On Her Own
by Emmi30307
Summary: A.U. Rachel lay curled in a ball in a corner of her room, crying quietly. He had left her alone in her room hours ago, and she had only just managed to grab the sweatshirt she had been wearing earlier. It was currently laying on the floor next to her. She hurt so much, she just wanted the pain to stop. He had been so rough, ripped her to shreds.
1. Him and That Night

On Her Own

Chapter 1

Rachel jerked herself awake and looked around her abnormally bright room. The quiet girl had every single light in the room turned on tonight. She hadn't meant to fall asleep. She'd had another nightmare. It was about _him_ and _that night_. She'd been scared half to death ever since.

It was her first night alone in her dorm room, her roommate Toni Monetti was spending the night with her boyfriend. She hadn't told Toni about _that night _yet. Rachel didn't know how the other girl would react to the fact that a friend of theirs had tried to rape her. The only thing that saved her was a guy hidden in the shadows cast by a truck. She didn't know who saved her but she was eternally grateful and embarrassed.

Rachel jumped slightly when someone knocked on her door. She debated answering it, fearing who it was on the other side.

"Rachel?" There was another knock.

The girl in question smiled slightly, recognizing the voice of her best friend turned boyfriend. She got up and crossed the room wearing a sports bra and a pair of booty shorts, opening the door for him. She stepped out into the hall and looked both ways before ducking back into her room. Shutting and locking the door, she turned to face her boyfriend.

He was tall, with a lean muscular build. His shaggy black hair usually fell in front of his cool blue eyes and Rachel loved brushing it back with her fingers. He was usually in a pair of black boots, and his denim jacket. Tonight he was in a pair of sweats. And right now those cool blue eyes of his were watching her curiously.

"You alright Rachel?" He could tell she was thinking about something.

She nodded and walked up to him, resting her forehead against his chest as he wrapped his arms around her. She hadn't seen him in almost two weeks.

"I'm fine Richard. Just worried about an english assignment that's due on Monday." She couldn't look at him. Richard was the only person she had trouble lying to, and she was pretty sure it was because of how much she cared about him.

"Where's Toni?" His voice was soft and close to her ear. She could feel his warm breath on her skin.

"She's spending the night with her boyfriend." Rachel placed one of her hands over his heart, letting the steady beat of his, slow her pounding one.

"Then I'm guessing that's an invitation for me to spend the night?" She could hear the smile in his voice. Richard took a half step back and lifted her chin with his finger. When she didn't respond he cocked his head to the side and frowned slightly, knowing there was something bigger than her english bothering her that she wasn't sharing.

"Hey," He whispered, gaining her attention.

She looked into his clear eyes, her own clouded with her thoughts on _that night_.

He smiled down at her. "I've missed you."

She showed him a small smile. "I've missed you too."

Rachel took his hand in hers and tugged, leading him over to her bed. "I could use some company, it's been too quiet with Toni gone."

Richard sat down on the edge and watched her get comfortable. "What about that english assignment that's due?"

She shrugged at the ceiling. "What about it?" She hadn't been lying when she said she was worried about it. It was impossible for her to get away with lying to him. It was sitting half done on her computer, just as it had been when she started it the day before the party, but she hadn't been able to focus on it. She'd been busy thinking about _other_ things.

He raised an eyebrow at her, smirking. "I know you Rach, you only worry about an assignment if you haven't finished it."

He noticed her tense slightly. It was going to bother her all night. Getting up, Richard went over to her desk and grabbed her laptop and english book before bringing them over to the twin bed. "Come on, you know it's gonna bother you until it's done."

She sat up on her elbows and looked at him. "But you're here, and I'd rather spend this time with you than with my homework…" And she didn't think she'd be going to that class anytime soon.

"Go ahead and finish it, I'm more than fine with just hanging out in here with you. Besides maybe I'll reward you if do your work like a good girl." He commented playfully as he put the computer and book on the quilt in front of her before laying down with his hands behind his head.

She took a slow breath before she pulled the laptop onto her lap and opened the book to the page she needed and propped it against a pillow next to her.

Richard moved silently about the room for the next few hours, keeping himself busy while Rachel attempted to finish her paper. Whenever she began getting frustrated or would start to lose her focus he would go back over to the bed to help her get going again.

Rachel sat on her bed with her back against the wall as she typed her paper. She wanted to be able to see Richard as he moved around her room. It was comforting to know he was here with her. Nothing would happen to her while Richard was around.

Every now and then she would start to lose focus on what she was supposed to be doing and would let her thoughts get sidetracked, thus sidetracking her. When this happened Richard would come sit next to her to see how much more she had done. He would encourage her to keep going and would sit next to her for a few sentences before he began wandering around her room again.

Rachel worked late into the night before finally printing it. After stapling it and putting it in her bag along with her book for class, she sat on a corner of the bed and looked over at her boyfriend who was currently sprawled across the majority of the small mattress.

"Push over, you're taking up the whole bed." She complained lightly. He grinned and moved in a bit so she could lay down next to him.

"Ugh, remind me why I let you spend the night with me?" She questioned as she got comfortable. She felt him laugh next to her and smiled lightly. She was safe.

"Maybe it's because I make a good pillow?" He replied jokingly, wrapping her up in his arms so he could slide one arm under her head. He knew how she liked to sleep.

"Oh yeah, thats why." She chuckled softly and curled into his chest, one of her legs slipping between his. She knew she would sleep well with him beside her.

Richard pulled the blankets up a little higher around them before wrapping an arm around Rachel and drifting off to sleep.

The next morning sunlight came pouring through the window, landing right at the head of Rachels bed. The two people occupying the bed groaned in unison. Richard put a hand in front of his face, trying to block it from the overly bright sunshine. "Can you turn off the sun?" Rachel moaned burying deeper into the blankets.

"Come on, we're both awake. Might as well get up." Richard moved over her and held himself above her, leaning on his elbows. She pouted up at him. He wrapped an arm around her waist and stood up, pulling her closer to him.

He captured her lips with his, kissing her deeply. Rachel instantly tensed against him and had to remind herself that it was Richard. _Her _Richard. Not the monster who attacked her.

Richard pulled back when he felt her tense up. "Rachel?" His voice was quiet, with a hint of worry.

The chain glinted under the collar of his shirt. She moved back and turned towards her closet before responding, her heart breaking from fear and anxiety. "It's nothing. I'm fine."

And with that said, Rachel began digging through her closet for something to wear for the day. As she found each new article of clothing, she removed the one that she wore to bed and replaced it with the clean one.

Richard watched her change, she was acting strangely. Last time she had kept something big from him it was a birthday present that she had gone through a lot of trouble getting. But he had a pretty good feeling that it wasn't anything like that this time. He walked up behind her and rested his chin on her shoulder, wrapping his arms loosely around her waist.

"Whatever it is that's bugging you, you know you can tell me right? You can tell me anything." He placed a soft kiss on her neck.

She placed her hands over his and replied quietly. "Yeah, I know."

"And I'm always going to be on your side." Richard told her.

"I have to go talk to my english professor…" She trailed off as if there was more she wanted to say.

He wasn't going to force her to talk. And he wasn't going to argue with her over it. So instead he just placed a kiss on her temple and put his shoes on. Grabbing his sweatshirt he walked out of her room and left her to her thoughts.

Rachel stood there, in front of her closet, looking at the door long after he had left. She knew she should tell him about _that night_ but she didn't know how. And once he knew, he would worry about her. She didn't want him to worry.

Pulling on her socks and shoes Rachel left her room. She _should _go see her english professor about her grade, which had been dropping lately. But she didn't have the strength to go talk to him at the moment, so instead she just wandered around campus.

Rachel knew that she couldn't keep this from him forever. She just didn't know how to tell him. If he knew about it Richard would freak out. She had to tell him though, no matter what. Eventually.

"Hello Rachel." The sound of that voice made Rachels blood run cold.

_He _was standing right in front of her. Roy Harper. He looked similar to Richard except his hair was orange and had brown eyes. He was more cocky, competitive and aggressive than Richard was though and that was the biggest thing that set them apart, though they had been competing against each other since the day they met.

Rachel stood there rigid. "What do you want Roy?" Her voice was cold, she didn't want him to know how scared she was right now.

"Oh, I think you know what I want Roth." He took a step forward and she took two back. There was no one around except for the two of them.

"I'm not in the mood to deal with you right now Roy." She tried acting annoyed, then turned and started walking away. She didn't want to be alone with him. If she could just get to a busier part of campus she'd be fine.

"Where are you going Rachel?" He taunted grabbing her arm, pulling her to a stop.

She glared at him, trying to keep herself together. "I'm going back to my room-" He stopped her there.

"That's a great idea, that'll be much better than against a tree." Rachel's eyes widened in horror as he released her arm and took her hand instead.

Her room would be empty, it was still way too early in the day for Toni to be back. She couldn't let him get in her room. She just couldn't. There would be no hope of being saved this time.

"Rachel?"

She heard Roy growl quietly next to her and looked up.

Richard was walking towards them.

"Act normal, or you'll regret it." Roy growled quietly at her, frowning as Richard got closer to them.

"What do you want Grayson?" Roy asked taking a step forward so he was toe to toe with Richard, and in front of Rachel. Both were glaring at each other.

"What, am I not allowed to talk to my girlfriend?" Richard shifted his glare to where Roy was still holding Rachels hand.

Roy shot Rachel a quick glance and released her hand. Rachel crossed her arms in front of her chest and looked at the ground, breathing slowly, evenly.

She tensed and jerked away when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Rachel," The soft voice, a complete opposite of what it had been moments before, calmed her a bit.

She let the hand guide her to Richards side where it circled around her waist possessively.

"Rachel, what about our **_plans_**?" Roy commented as she leaned into Richards side. She merely continued to look at the ground, trying to keep her breathing even. She shook her head lightly. She was practically trembling under Richards arm.

Richard took that as his cue and turned the two of them around, walking away.

"Don't forget what I said Rachel!" Roy called after them.

Richard wanted to know what was going on between the two of them. And he was planning on finding out one way or another.


	2. Silence and Sharing Secrets

On Her Own

Chapter 2

Richard had brought Rachel to his room. He didn't know what was going on between them, but whatever it was Rachel didn't seem to like it. She hadn't said a single thing since he found her holding hands with Roy, and that had been hours ago now.

"Rach, why don't you hang here for a bit? I'm gonna go get us some pizza for dinner." She merely nodded from where she lay on his bed next to him. His room was cold and she shivered slightly when he got up, taking his warmth with him. He grabbed an extra blanket from the end of the bed and laid it over her, tucking her in.

Rachel grabbed his hand before he pulled it away from the blanket and placed a light kiss on his palm. He squeezed her hand gently, and leaned down to place a kiss on her forehead. She let go of his hand and sighed softly. He was so good to her and she was keeping this huge secret from him.

He stood up, grabbed his wallet and left his room, locking the door behind him. He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair before heading over to the little pizza shack near his dorm. He knew she was shaken from whatever had transpired between her and Roy. He would let it be for now, let her calm down a bit, and give her the chance to tell him herself before he started asking questions. She would tell him when she was ready.

Paying for his pizza he turned and began making his way back to his room.

Getting up, Rachel went over to his closet and stole a pair of his pajama pants and one of his shirts. She changed quickly, grabbed his laptop and crawled back under the blankets. Logging onto his computer she went online and checked her email. She had thought with the holidays approaching, their might be an email from her mom but she was wrong. There was one from Roy though. She opened it and scanned it quickly, feeling like she was going to throw up by the end of it.

She took a shaky breath and closed the lid before putting it back on his desk. She had just gotten back under the blankets when Richard came in carrying a hot pizza for them. She wanted to puke from that email. He sat down in front of her on the bed, with the pizza between them.

Richard had gotten her favorite, hawaiian pizza, but she couldn't bring herself to enjoy it. She had barely taken two bites of her first slice while he was starting his second one.

"Are you feeling alright Rachel?" Richard had been watching her carefully. She looked pale and had barely even touched her food. She'd bring it up to her mouth then would seemingly change her mind and put it back down.

She shrugged and looked down at her slice before laying it back in the box. She couldn't do it. She wanted to puke and it was all _his _fault. _He_ was the one who started this mess.

"Have you eaten anything today?" He knew she never ate breakfast, and didn't eat any lunch today that he knew of. She shrugged again before hugging a pillow to her chest.

Finishing his slice, he put the leftover pizza in the fridge before laying on the bed with her and turning the TV on. She curled against him, fisting his shirt in her hand as he stroked her hair. Richard looked down at her, she still hadn't said anything and that worried him.

"Rachel?" She was watching the TV, not really seeing it.

"What about your roommate?" Her voice was just above a whisper.

He kissed the top of her head, relieved. "He left on vacation with his family."

She nodded slowly and closed her eyes, worming closer to her boyfriend. "Goodnight Richard,"

"Goodnight Rach, sleep well." The TV faded into the background as consciousness left her.

Richard woke up the next morning to the sound of his alarm going off. Groaning he reached over and silenced the annoying device. He looked over at his girlfriend and smiled. She was sleeping peacefully, one of her arms wrapped around his waist. He moved her arm and quietly got out of bed to get dressed.

As soon as he had pulled away from her, Rachel rolled over and curled into a tight ball. He hated to wake her up, but he knew she had class in an hour. Richard finished dressing before sitting on the edge of the bed and laying a hand lightly on her cheek. She stirred slightly.

"Rachel, time to get up." He stroked her cheek with his thumb.

"Rachel, Rach you need to get up." Moving his hand to her arm, he squeezed it lightly.

She bolted up to a sitting position and glanced around frantically. He was watching her worriedly. Taking a slow deep breath, Rachel climbed out of his bed and went to his closet to find the extra clothes she left there.

"You alright Rachel?"

She nodded with her back to him. "Yeah, just had a bad dream." She hoped he wouldn't call her out on the obvious lie.

Richard was worried about her, and planned on watching her closely. He knew she wasn't ready to tell him on her own, so he would have to figure it out for himself.

Once they were both ready, Richard brought Rachel to her room to grab her stuff and walked her to her english class.

"I'll catch up with you later, have a good class." He noticed that she tried not to flinch as he placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Sure, I'll see you later." Her voice was soft and sad as she walked into the class that she had skipped for the past week and a half.

Rachel looked over to where her seat was. Roy sat next to her and was already at his desk. The professor wasn't there yet. Starting towards her seat, Rachel promised herself she wouldn't let him get to her. He couldn't do anything, they were in a room full of other people. Sitting down, she pulled out the paper she had started before she began skipping and stared straight ahead, waiting to pass it in.

She knew she couldn't explain why she missed class so she knew the only way to get her grade back up was to do well on the final in a few weeks. She was determined to pass this class with a B+ and knew she had a lot of work ahead of her. She wasn't going to let her fear of Roy keep her from passing this class. She knew she could survive an hour twice a week. She had to. As long as she wasn't alone with him she would be fine.

When her professor dismissed class for the day, she practically jumped out of her chair. She quickly made her way to the door and went to get a snack out of the vending machines before her next class.

The week had gone by slowly for Rachel. It was finally late Friday night. She had managed to avoid saying more than two words to Roy during both sessions of english and she had finished reading two of the chapters she had missed while she wasn't in class. She was pretty proud of herself.

With a small smile she relaxed into her boyfriends arms. They were lounging around in her room. Toni was out at a party and planning on spending the night at her boyfriends.

"Hey, Rachel?" His voice was quiet as his arm trailed lazily up and down her arm.

She looked up at him, she was more comfortable with him right now than she had been lately. When he didn't speak immediately she traced the outline of the silver chain that hid beneath his shirt and closed her eyes, her head resting against his shoulder.

"Can we talk for a minute?" She nodded against his shirt, leaving her eyes closed.

"You've been acting different lately. I know there's something wrong…" He trailed off, wanting to see if she would tell him or see if she'd make him tell her what he saw.

"I've just been stressed about my grades, I'm fine." She looked up at him. Only half of a lie. Though he didn't know that she had skipped english class for a while.

"Really Richard, I'm fine." She added when he looked unbelieving. She heard the lie in her voice and he most likely did too, it was more of whether or not he was going to call her out on it.

The hand that had been moving along her arm stopped, and he sat up a bit so he was looking down at her. "Why are you lying to me?" He didn't sound hurt only confused, his eyes were boring into hers.

His gaze locked on hers and she couldn't bring herself to look away. "I-I'm not l-lying, what gave you that idea?"

He sat up all the way, and saw her tense. "You stuttered, and I saw the email from Roy on my computer. You never logged out last time you used it."

She looked scared and tried to move away from him. But Richard put a calm, steadying hand on her shoulder, stopping her.

"What's going on between you and Roy?" His voice was barely above a whisper. He knew whatever it was, it wasn't good. She was scared of Roy, and Richard could see it.

"You're not going to be happy when I tell you." She was trembling lightly under his hand. She wanted to pull away.

"It's all right, I won't be mad. I promise. You need to tell me, Rachel. I'm worried about you." He made sure to keep his voice light and gentle. After reading that email, a lot of his girlfriends behavior had made sense to him, but he wasn't entirely sure _what _was going on between them.

"You shouldn't make promises you can't keep." Rachel whispered, jerking his hand away from her shoulder and rolling over so her back was to him.

He moved a little closer and trailed his fingers through her hair. "Don't hide from me, I want to help you. I want to be there for you, but you have to let me in first." Richard moved and sat in front of her, with his back against the wall and his legs bent over her stretched out legs.

"I'm scared of him." She admitted quietly to the blankets.

"He tried to do something…" She shook her head softly and stopped, unable to say more. But Richard had read the email, he knew what Roy had tried to do to her. What he _still _wanted to do to her.

"When?"

"After a halloween party, a few weeks ago…" She couldn't look at him.

"Oh Rachel…" He reached out to lift her chin, only to see tears falling down her cheeks.

One of his hands fisted at his side. Richard wanted nothing more than to go find Roy and beat him to a bloody pulp, but he had someone else to take care of first.

So instead he pushed away the anger, forcing himself to calm down, and pulled his girlfriend closer.

She resisted a bit until he let go of her.

"Rachel, I promise you, I'm not mad at you. I'm not upset in any way. This isn't your fault." He heard a choked sob come from her. She looked at him timidly for a moment before she, ever so slowly, inched her way into his arms.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to be mad and worried about me…" She trailed off quietly, looking down at his shirt instead of him.

"I'll admit, I'm mad but not at you. Roy tried to hurt you Rachel, and he's the one I'm mad at." Richard held her close and rubbed her back. "You did absolutely nothing wrong though. I'm not mad at you. You did the right thing telling me. I'm not mad at you." His voice was a soft whisper next to her ear.

"Does Toni know?" He knew the two were really close and told each other everything so he was surprised when she shook her head. It took a lot for her to keep secrets.

"Thank you for telling me." He sighed sadly and brushed his lips across her forehead, and for the first time in a few weeks she didn't tense against him.


	3. Comfort

On Her Own

Chapter 3

"That day you found us together…holding hands…he, he wanted to-to do it against a tree, and he found out I was coming back here, he- he thought that sounded better…doing it here…" Richard couldn't help but wish he could walk out of her room right then and go pound Roy into the ground for tormenting her like this.

"Sssshhhh Rachel, baby, it's all right." Rachel could't stop the tears from coming. She looked up at him and he pulled her a little closer. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his shirt.

"Hush now, it's all right. I'm here with you." She was trembling in his arms, and he didn't know how to help her.

He sat there rocking her in his arms well into the night. At some point the tears had stopped, but she was still trembling against him and her breathing was still uneven. He looked down to see her clutching at his shirt.

"Why don't you go wash your face and get ready for bed?" Richard suggested gently. He could tell she was exhausted and needed to go to sleep.

She looked up at him and blinked slowly before nodding, even though she wasn't sure she wanted to. Gradually she released his shirt and got off the bed. He followed after her and went over to her closet. They always had each others clothes in their rooms.

He noticed her hesitating by the door. "Go wash up, I'll be here waiting for you to come back and we can go to bed." He told her gently, as he went over and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

She nodded again without looking at him. Without a sound she left, and went to go use the bathroom and wash up.

When Rachel walked back into her room, her shirtless boyfriend was pulling the curtain across the window. She shut the door behind her and pulled her shirt over her head, leaving her in sweatpants and her sports bra. He glanced over at her and gave her a half smile. "Don't want the sun waking us up again now, do we?"

She tried to smile, but it didn't reach her eyes. Richard noticed they were still red from her crying before. He threw himself sideways onto her bed, bouncing slightly before he moved the blankets and held out his arms to her.

Slowly she moved closer to the bed but stopped at the edge and stood there.

Richard laid on his side looking at her. Taking her hand in his, he gently pulled her onto the bed. She laid there on the edge, watching him tensely.

"Are you planning on sleeping on the edge like that all night? Or are you gonna come and sleep in my arms?" That was all the clarification she needed. She moved into his arms and curled herself against him. Richard wasn't Roy. They were complete opposites. Richard would never try to hurt her.

Her fingers went back to the chain, wondering where it came from. Richard pulled the blankets up around their shoulders and placed a kiss on Rachels' temple as she buried her face against his chest.


	4. Sleepless Night

On Her Own

Chapter 4

Richard woke up in the middle of the night. Rachel was still sleeping soundly, curled up against him. He sat up a bit on one arm and looked around the dark room before holding still for a moment, trying to decide what had woken him if it hadn't been Rachel. He brushed a stray piece of hair away from her face before laying back down and closing his eyes again.

A split second later his eyes flew open again. Someone had knocked on the door. Carefully lifting himself over Rachel, he got out of bed.

No sooner had his feet hit the floor, did she roll over and start muttering in her sleep.

Richard crossed the room and opened the door, figuring Toni had come back to the room for one reason or another.

It wasn't Toni.

"What are you doing here Grayson?" Roy asked crossing his arms over his chest, with a raised eyebrow at Richards half naked state.

"I could ask you the same thing, **Harper**." Richard replied crossing his arms over his chest and leaning in the doorway.

"What gives you the right to be here? Rachel asked me to swing by, but she didn't mention _you_ would be here." Roy was glaring at him.

"Really, she asked _you _to stop by? Because she's _my _girlfriend after all. And we spend almost every weekend together. So I don't know **how** she could have forgotten to mention it." Richard replied sarcastically, wanting nothing more than to punch him.

"The only way she wouldn't have mentioned my being here, is if she didn't invite you over." Richard opened his mouth to add something else but Rachel whimpered behind him. With one hand on the door frame and the other on the open door, he looked over his shoulder to see her clutching at his pillow.

Looking back to Roy, he glared. "Go to your room, and just leave us alone Roy."

Richard stepped back and swung the door shut, turning towards his girlfriend who looked like she was having a nightmare. She was laying on the bed with the blankets twisted around her waist, whimpering and thrashing in her sleep. Richard kneeled down next to the bed, since there was no room for him at the moment, and brushed some hair behind her ear before running a light hand along her bare arm.

"What makes you special enough to spend the night with her?" The jealous voice carried quietly across the room. Roy must have stopped the door before it latched shut.

Richard replied quietly without turning away from Rachel. "I care about her, protect her," Here he turned to look at Roy, "She trusts me because I would _never _hurt her."

Roy just raised an eyebrow at Richard.

"What makes you think I would hurt her? She-" Richard stood up and stalked over to where Roy was leaning in the doorframe.

"Get lost Roy, or I'll make you regret coming here tonight." He jammed his finger into Roys chest. Richard wasn't sure how much longer he could control himself, so he turned around and went to kneel next to the bed again.

Rachel was shivering, he pulled the blankets up around her shoulders and took one of her hands in his, squeezing it softly.

Rachel started mumbling something softly in her sleep. He couldn't tell what she was saying.

"What's your problem?" Roy asked, walking farther into the room, light spilling from the open door casting him in shadow.

Richard took a deep breath and looked at Rachel. "**_My _**problem? What's your problem! I know you tried to rape her. And if I ever find out that you tried again, I promise to show you no mercy."

She stirred and pulled her hand from his, rubbing her eyes as she sat up. "Richard?" Her voice was hoarse with exhaustion.

"I'm here Rach, I'm right here." He shifted from kneeling to sitting on the edge of the bed next to her.

He watched her eyes move past him, and stop above his head.

"I'm here too. Hi Rachel," Roy stepped forward again so he was only a few feet away from the bed.

Richard glared at Roy again before moving closer to Rachel and draping the blankets around her, attempting to cover the fact that she was only in her sports bra.

"What are you doing here? You have no right to be here." Rachel was attempting to sound mad and failing.

He shrugged and crossed his arms over his chest. "Just thought I'd stop by, hang out for a bit since our visit got cut short last weekend. I'll see you soon." Tuning away from the couple on the bed he left the room.

Rachel leaned against him once the door had shut, she was shaking again.

"I think he was hoping to catch you alone in here," Richard commented before he got up and made sure the door was locked.

He sat back down on the bed and nudged her to lay down. He pulled her close and wrapped an arm around her, running his fingers soothingly through her hair.

"He can't get back in here, as long as I'm with you he can't hurt you." They laid there for a while, both just glad that they were with the other.

"Richard?" Her voice was no more than a whisper, but it echoed loudly in the silent room.

"Mhmmm?" He pulled her a little closer to him and he felt her relax in his arms.

"I love you." He smiled at her in the dark and she smiled back.

"I know. I love you too, Rach. You mean the world to me." He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips, pulling back with a warm smile.

"Go back to sleep baby, I'm here. I got you." He began running his fingers through her hair again.

"I don't want to sleep." He pulled the hand that was in her hair back when she shook her head.

"Rachel, it's late. You really should try and go back to sleep."

She shook her head again. "Please, just talk to me. About anything. I don't think I'd be able too sleep yet even if I wanted too."

He laughed lightly, she could be so stubborn. Even at, he checked the clock, two-thirty something in the morning. He humored her and spoke quietly as he told her old stories.

Somewhere around two hours later, Rachel fell asleep with her head resting on his chest. Closing his eyes, he let sleep drag him back under.

Rachel slowly opened her eyes the next morning, not wanting to wake up. Richard was asleep on his side facing her. She rested her forehead against his chest and smiled inwardly. Richard was here, and he was hers. She was safe.

She didn't know how late in the day it was but guessed it was somewhere around lunchtime. She just had no intention of getting up. Laying a hand over his heart, she let her heartbeat slow to match his. Closing her eyes, Rachel let herself drift off again as Richards arm slid around her.

What couldn't have been more than a half hour later the dorm room door opened and a girl with short black hair walked in. Richard turned his head and looked over at her. "Hey Toni." His voice was rough with sleep.

Toni looked over at her roommates bed to see her roommates boyfriend looking half asleep, Rachel sleeping with her head on his chest. She raised an eyebrow at him. "Isn't it a little late to still be in bed? Or were you two _busy _last night?" She whispered suggestively.

"No, nothing like that." He said as he pulled the blankets up a little higher around Rachels shoulders, covering her and himself. "We had a visitor, and Rach couldn't sleep afterwards. So we were up most of the night after that."

Toni nodded slowly, she had noticed that her friend and roommate hadn't been sleeping well lately. "Right, any ideas why?" She turned her back to Richard and started changing into some sweatpants and a tank top.

"I wish I could tell you…" He trailed off, running his fingers through his girlfriends hair. He wanted to tell Toni about Roy but it wasn't his place to tell her. He would do what he could, but he couldn't involve anyone else till Rachel was ready to share on her own.

Rachel shifted, pulling her head off his chest and curling into his side, whimpering quietly.

"I'm guessing she had a really bad night?" Toni asked worried, she knew Rachel really well, considering they lived in the same room together all week, every week. And Rachel only whimpered like that after a night of nightmares. "She's been barely sleeping at all these past few weeks. And she leaves the lights on at night now."

Richard was kind of shocked. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen this soft side of Toni before. But then again most people didn't seem to think Rachel had a soft side either. He was able to see how the two girls became such fast friends. "I know, there's something that's been going on and its been bothering her a lot more than she is letting on."

Toni nodded in agreement. "I figured. I've tried asking her what's wrong but she just tells me that theres nothing wrong."

Rachel nuzzled against Richards side, squirming around in her sleep for a few moments before jerking herself awake. Her heart was pounding loud enough that she thought Richard could hear it. She covered her face with one hand while pulling the blankets over her head and holding them there with the other.

"Rachel,"

Someone tugged at the blankets but she held them there tightly. "Rach, come on out." She curled further into herself when she heard his voice.

"C'mon love, it's just us…" Toni tried to goad her out, taking a seat at the foot of the bed.

Rachel just pulled the blankets more firmly over her head. A hand slipped under the sheet and rested against her arm. She jerked away from it.

The room went quiet for a few minutes before she herd the soft click of the door opening, followed by another, softer click as it shut again.

She felt a hand rubbing her back through the blankets. "Toni left." His voice was warm and smooth.

She closed her eyes and tried to breathe deeply. "Rach, it's alright." His hand found her shoulder and squeezed it lightly. He tried to move the blanket and this time, she let him.

Richard pulled the blanket, and folded it back once he could see her face. Her eyes were red and her face was blotchy with tear stains. Raven took one look at him before curling into herself and hiding her face. "Hey, don't do that. Don't go hiding from me."

He ran a hand through her hair, he knew she loved it and that it calmed her. "It's okay to be upset, and it's okay to cry. I want to be there for you…"

She slowly uncurled and really looked at him this time. "I'm here for you." And with that she let him hold her and sweep away the remaining pieces of her dream.

"You do know that you can't keep this from Toni right?" Richard commented. He was sitting with his back against the wall, Rachel sitting next to him, leaning against his shoulder with his arms wrapped around her.

She nodded slowly, and sadly. "I know…"

Richard frowned at her. "Alright, get up and get dressed."

She looked up at him, begging with her eyes to stay in bed. He playfully narrowed his eyes at her. "I mean it Rach, get dressed." He nudged her forward.

"But-" He silenced her with a soft kiss. He nodded his head towards her closet.

"Get dressed."

With an irritated sigh, she got up and got dressed. Richard followed behind her and dressed as well. He knew she was still thinking about Roys visit last night.

"You ready?" He asked when she was fully changed. She nodded and followed him out the door.

Once they door had shut behind them Richard grabbed her hand and took off running, dragging her behind him.

"Richard?" Rachel was laughing, trying to keep up with him.

Other students watched as they ran by.

"Where are we going?" They burst through the doors and out into the warm early winter air.

Richard looked at her over his shoulder and was pleased to see she was smiling, and for the first time in too long, it reached her eyes.

He slowed down as they reached a quieter area of campus. Slowing to a walk, he grinned and tugged on her arm. Rachel stumbled as he pulled her so she was walking next him, his arm winding around her shoulders.


	5. Climbing

On Her Own

Chapter 5

Rachel looked up at him curiously. "What was that about?" She was breathing heavy from running after him, although it had felt beyond good.

Bits of his necklace glinted in the sunlight. Richard grinned down at her and shrugged. Honestly he'd do just about anything to see her smile like that all the time again.

"It's nice to see you smiling again." He stated, pulling her a little closer to him as they walked.

He led them out towards the tree line, where there was a small stretch of woods. Getting a devilish idea, he threw Rachel over his shoulder and took off running again.

Rachel hit his back with her fists and kicked her legs demanding to be put down. Though her laughter was contradicting her words as he began weaving in and out of the tree line. He finally stopped somewhere in the woods and lifted her onto a tree branch that was a little above his head.

"What the hell Richard?" She asked wobbling on the branch as he let go of her. Her words were harsh, but her eyes were laughing.

He flashed her a grin before climbing into the tree with her. She watched him curiously as he climbed up to her, before continuing higher. She slowly stood up on her branch and began following him. Curious.

"What are we doing?" Rachel called up to him, they were probably thirty feet up now. She was trying to find another branch to grab with her right hand.

He crouched down on one knee, holding a branch above him with one hand and reaching out for her with his free hand.

He finally replied when she was standing on a branch in front of him. "We're enjoying ourselves."

She looked down, they were easily thirty-five, forty feet up. The ground spun far below and she swayed a bit, Richard put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed.

"Don't look down. I used to do this with my parents all the time as a kid. It's easier if you don't think about it."

Rachel nodded as he motioned for her to go up ahead of him. So up they went, stopping every now and then to admire the view. Finally finding a nice spot to sit, they settled down in the tree together on an abnormally thick branch with Rachel sitting in his lap, her back against his chest and his arms around her waist.

Rachel leaned back against his chest. "Could we watch the sunset up here?"

He shook his head regretfully.

"Not from this height. It's dangerous to climb down in the dark from this high up, all it takes is one little slip."

He heard her swallow as her eyes got wide. "Then, maybe we should start going down?" She looked down, trying to find the ground.

Richard put a finger under her chin and brought her eyes up to his. "Eyes on me baby." His voice was warm and caring. He knew she preferred to keep her feet on the ground. She swallowed again before nodding.

He guided one of her hands to a branch that was right above their heads and rested a hand against her hip as she stood up.

"I'll go first and guide you down, just go nice and slow." That was exactly what his parents had told him the first time they had all gone tree climbing together. Going up had always been easy for him, but getting down use to terrify him to death.

Together the two of them slowly made their way down. Finally Richard told her to stop.

Grabbing hold of a branch in front of him, he slid off the one he had been standing on and dropped to the ground below. He looked up at her and smiled encouragingly.

Sitting on her branch, Rachel reached forward and grabbed one before sliding off and hanging from the one she was holding. She looked down again, the ground swinging below her feet.

"Let go, Rachel."

Taking a deep breath, she let go and landed in on her feet with his hands on her hips. She smiled up at him. "I did it."

He leaned down to kiss her, murmuring against her lips. "Yes, you did."


	6. Unexpected Visitor

On Her Own

Chapter 6

They walked back towards the dorm together hand in hand. The sun had sunk below the trees, and the woods were dark.

Rachel was gazing at the night sky, letting Richard guide her when she suddenly broke the silence. "Richard?"

His reply was a gentle squeeze of her hand. "Thanks for today. I had a lot of fun."

He smiled down at her. "I did too Rach. I'm just glad to see you smiling and happy again."

The closer they got to the center of campus where their dorm was the more people were around. Rachel saw Roy leaning against a tree, just off the main path. He grinned at her and nodded. She swallowed and looked away.

Memories of _that night_ began surfacing again.

"Do you want to go back to my room? We can get some dinner, maybe watch a movie?" Richard asked when they were almost back to the dorm rooms.

"Rachel?"

"Rachel?" He said again, tugging gently on her hand.

Blinking up at him a few times he watched her eyes focus on him. "Sorry, what?"

"I asked if you wanted to go back to my room tonight." He frowned at her, his eyebrows pulling together.

She smiled at him, taking his hand and draping his arm around her shoulders. "Sounds perfect."

They stopped at one of the campus' dining halls and got themselves some Chinese food. After they had eaten their dinner, they started on their way back to Richards room.

He watched her as they walked. It seemed whatever it was that had been bothering her before they ate, wasn't an issue now.

Richard opened the door to his room and let her go in first. He watched her go to his closet and strip down to her panties before pulling on one of his shirts, taking a two step lead and jumping onto his bed. She bounced slightly after she landed. She seemed happier.

He grinned, shutting the door behind him, changing into sweat pants and leaping onto the bed with her.

Crushing his mouth to hers, he pushed her against the bed, his fingers trailed along her sides. While their tongues dueled she rolled them over so she was on top. She pulled back just enough for air, staring into his eyes. She tangled her hands in his black mane of hair. He leaned up kissing her again, nibbling on her bottom lip as he rolled them over again.

He felt her gasp, they were falling. Before he knew it they were on his floor, with him crushing her. He pushed himself to his knees, straddling her. "Rachel, are you all right?"

She groaned and rubbed the back of her head. "Yeah, but next time, I think I'll just let you stay on top."

Sitting up, she leaned on her elbows. "You need a softer floor." She stated bluntly.

Getting up, Richard reached down chuckling and pulled her up by her hands. "You sure you're all right?"

She nodded as he cupped her face in his hands before kissing her softly. He nudged her sideways slightly before pulling her closer to him and falling back onto the mattress, with her on top this time.

She sighed softly as he rested his forehead against hers. "Thank you for taking me tree climbing today."

He smiled at her. "It was my pleasure."

She closed her eyes and he placed another soft kiss on her lips before pulling them fully onto the bed. Richard rolled so Rachel was laying on the inside of the mattress, closer to the wall, before sitting up and reaching for the TV remote that he knew was on the floor somewhere near his side of the bed.

Smiling inwardly when he finally found it, he turned on the TV and scrolled through the channels till he found a movie to leave on for the time being.

Rachel reached for his arm and moved it so she could rest her head on it, turning her head slightly so she could place a kiss on the skin of his upper arm.

With a small smile she closed her eyes, not bothering to watch the movie he had put on. She knew he did't care about watching it, they both preferred to cuddle when it was late at night like this.

He wrapped an arm around her waist and tugged her closer, she nuzzled her nose against his chest. Both were quite content as they drifted off to sleep.

The full moon came through the window of Richards room, pooling on the floor near the bed as Rachel carefully made her way to the door. She wasn't exactly a fan of leaving his room in nothing but her panties and one of his shirts but the bathroom was only two doors down. And no one will be wandering around the halls in the middle of the night, the rational half of her brain added.

Easing open the door, Rachel slipped into the dark hallway and started making her way to the bathroom. The hallway lights were never off, that was really strange. There was a sound behind her, and she froze where she was. Tentatively turning around, she saw a flash of orange hair at the other end of the hall. Her heart was pounding as she ran the short distance back to Richards room.

She knew that it was Roy out there. And she knew that he would love nothing more than to catch her alone in the dark. She was really beginning to hate the fact that they all lived in the same dorm. Trying to slow and quiet her breathing she walked back over to the bed. She didn't want Richard to wake up and find out.

She knew he was already worried about her.

She slowly climbed back into bed, just as she was pulling the blankets up around her, Richards hand covered hers. "Hey, are you all right?"

Richards voice was gruff with sleep, but his eyes were alert.

She curled up against him, hating the taste of the lie that rolled off her tongue, "Yeah, I was just in the bathroom."

His lips found her temple, and lingered a few extra seconds before his arm wrapped around her, pulling her against him and tucking her head under his chin.

She sighed quietly and let herself go back to sleep, knowing Roy couldn't hurt her while Richard was around.

The next day the two of them settled down on the floor of Richards room and spent the day doing their homework together.

Rachel had been on the jumpy side all day. She blamed the nightmares of Roy chasing her down endless dark hallways.

She was in the middle of a particularly hard math problem when she decided she needed a little break. Crawling over to Richard who was sitting on the floor a few feet away, she took his history book out of his lap; claiming the spot for herself.

Grinning, he raised an eyebrow at her. "Was that really necessary?"

She nodded as he claimed her mouth with his. She melted against him as one of his hands tangled itself in her hair, the other hand slipping beneath the hem of her shirt and rubbing small circles on her hip.

She trailed a hand up his chest and traced over the silver chain for a moment before wrapping around his neck. She could feel the clasp of it pushing into the skin of her wrist.

Pulling back slightly he placed a soft kiss on her forehead. "I know these last few weeks have been hard but you are so brave."

She looked away from him, not wanting to think about _why_ the last few weeks had been so hard for her.

He continued, lifting her chin so she would look at him. "You are so brave Rachel, you wanted to handle it on your own. That bravery and strength is something amazing."

He kissed her slowly, holding her tightly. Her hands were around his neck, she felt like she needed this. Needed _him_.

"You're the best boyfriend ever." She murmured, pulling back from the kiss.

"Oh, I know." He replied cockily, causing her to laugh.

He nudged her out of his lap and back towards her homework. "Now get back to work. We're almost done."

She pouted, hoping to put off leaving his arms for a few more minutes. "Come on, you're almost done." He reminded her.

She stuck her tongue out at him before going back over to her math.

"Soon?" She asked as she laid down on her stomach in front of her textbook.

He nodded with a small smile. "Soon."

Less than an hour later they were on their way to Rachels room. She wanted to sleep in her bed and call her parents, she wanted to know what the plan was for Christmas break.

She hadn't seen Roy since the night before in the hallway, and once Richard left her room she was planning on locking the door for the night.

When she opened the door to her room, Toni was on the phone, sprawled across her bed. She waved at Rachel before focusing on whoever she was talking to.

Richard pulled her against him and kissed her softly.

When he pulled back she looked up at him pleadingly. If Toni was in the room for the night then Richard wouldn't stay even if she asked him too.

"I'll stop by tomorrow after my last class alright?"

She rested her forehead against his chest and nodded. "Sure."

He grinned, lifting her chin and pecking her on the lips again. "Goodnight Rach."

She leaned in the doorway, watching him go. When he was out of sight, she stepped backwards into her room, shutting and locking the door.

"Why don't we go out and plaint the halls red?" Toni asked as she climbed off her bed.

Letting her backpack strap slide off her shoulder, Rachels backpack landed on the floor with a soft thump.

"Really Toni?" Rachel asked with a laugh as she threw herself on her bed.

"Are you going out tonight?" She asked after a beat of silence.

Toni looked like she was thinking about it as she sat on the edge of Rachels bed. "No, tonight it's just going to be you, me, and Batman movies."

Rachel grinned, loving the idea of it. "In that case, I think I'll jump in the shower. Then make a quick call home, I want to know what my parents are planning for Christmas."

Grabbing clean clothes and her shower bag, Rachel left her room with a quick glance around the hallway before hurrying to the bathroom for a shower.

An hour later Rachel had still been unsuccessful in getting a hold of either of her parents, and both girls were laying on their floor in their sports bras and shorts with a giant bowl of popcorn, watching The Dark Knight.

When The Dark Knight Rises ended it was well after midnight, and both girls climbed into bed.

"Goodnight Toni." Rachel whispered across the quiet room as she reached to turn on her nightstand lamp.

"Goodnight love, and whatever has been keeping you up at night, you can tell me."

Rachel sat up on one arm and looked at the British girl laying across the room from her.

"What do you mean?" She didn't want Toni to know yet, she didn't know how she'd take the news that their friend…wasn't really their friend.

Toni sat up on one arm as well and stared at Rachel. "You barely sleep anymore. And you used to hate having the lights on at night, now you freak out if the room is too dark. Is everything okay between you and Richard? Is he hurting you or something?"

"No!" Rachel said, panic leaking into her voice. "He'd never hurt me like that. He'd never hurt me period. Now I just want to go to bed. Goodnight." With that Rachel tuned to face the wall and closed her eyes, trying to go to sleep.

Once Toni was sure that she was asleep she went over and went through Rachels iPhone, sending Richards number to her phone.

Getting back in bed, Toni sent him a quick text. '_Hey its Toni. Can u tell me whts up with Rachel? She nearly flipped on me when I asked her whts up?'_

In his room one floor up, Richard was just getting into his bed when he saw his phone light up. Scanning the text he knew that something needed to change.

He would talk to Rachel tomorrow, and if she didn't want to tell Toni then he would have to.

Toni was gone when Rachel woke up Monday morning which wasn't really a surprise since she liked to have coffee with her boyfriend before class.

Sitting up, she stretched her back out before going over to her closet and getting dressed.

Pulling on a pair of jeans, she threw a sweatshirt over her sports bra and grabbed her backpack. Opening the door she saw Roy leaning against the wall in front of her.

"Morning Rachel, I believe we have some unfinished business."

He moved so fast that she didn't have a chance to shut the door before he had pushed her back into her room.

He locked the door without taking his eyes off her.

Rachels scream caught in her throat, as he slowly stalked towards her…


	7. Hurt

On Her Own

Chapter 7

Rachel lay curled in a ball in a corner of her room, crying quietly. Roy had ripped all her clothes off of her. He had left her alone in her room hours ago, and she had only just managed to grab the sweatshirt she had been wearing earlier. It was currently laying on the floor next to her.

She hurt so much, she just wanted the pain to stop. He had been so rough, ripped her to shreds.

Someone knocked on the door.

She didn't move, she _couldn't _move.

Again someone knocked.

She was on her own with this.

She couldn't tell anyone.

She choked down a sob. She wanted to be alone.

Except for her crying, all was quiet for a few minutes.

A lock clicked.

She closed her eyes, she wanted to be alone, she wanted the pain to go away. She wanted to be alone.

"Rachel!" She curled tighter into herself. It was only a moment after she heard his voice that she felt his warm denim jacket against her cold skin, before long a blanket was laid over her bare body as well.

"Oh Rachel, what happened?" She felt Toni take her hand.

"Toni, go find help." Richard instructed. She started shaking again, she didn't want anyone else to know about this.

"Shhh Rachel, baby. It's alright. I'm here now." She tensed when he placed a hand against her shoulder.

Lifting her head a bit, she looked quickly at Richard and Toni before scooting backwards away from them while trying to keep herself modestly covered.

Toni picked up the sweatshirt that had been by her feet and offered it to Rachel.

She slowly took it and pulled it on. It was one of Richards and was big on her, which some part of her brain was grateful for.

"I'll be right back love," Toni placed a hand on Rachels shoulder before getting up. Rachel tried to object but couldn't from hours of screaming and begging Roy to stop.

She shook her head frantically and reached for Toni to keep her from leaving.

"Toni stop." Richards voice had stopped her by the door. "I don't think she wants you to leave…"

"Rachel, it's all right. It's all right now." His voice was quiet as he slowly made his way over to Rachel.

He hated to see her cry, she looked so scared. "Rachel?"

She shook her head and looked at the floor, he hadn't even bothered to do it on a bed.

She hurt so much.

He ripped her apart.

She flinched when he laid a hand on her arm. "It's okay now baby,"

When she didn't pull away, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against his chest.

She cried silently in his arms, with him whispering calming nothings in her ear while Toni watched.

Toni eventually got up and left, saying something about getting them some lunch.

"What happened Rachel?" Richard murmured, getting off the floor and moving to lay on her bed with her.

She curled into him, fisting his shirt in her hands. He was warm, he was _safe_.

"Rachel?"

She looked up at him, and he used a thumb to wipe a few tears off her cheek. He leaned down to kiss her but she shied away from him. Whimpering.

Afraid.

He gave her a small smile and ran a finger along her cheek. "I love you Rachel, no matter what."

She wanted it to stop hurting. She didn't want to be afraid of Richard. She loved him. She hated that she was afraid of what he could do to her.

Looking away, she laid her head on his arm and buried her face in his shirt.

They laid there in silence till Toni got back with Subway for lunch.

Richard and Toni had their sandwiches and were eating on the floor. Rachel was still laying on her bed, as still and silent as ever. She didn't think she'd ever be hungry again.

"Who could have done this to her?" Toni asked between bites.

Richard stared at his sandwich, wishing it held all the answers. "Roy, I know it was him. It had to be him!"

Toni gave him a strange look, not believing him. "Where's your proof? Roy's a friend. You just don't like him and would love to be able to pin this on him."

She took a sip of her soda before continuing. "Besides, the door automatically locks on the outside. She would have had to let whoever did this in."

Richard glared at the british girl. She didn't believe him.

"I don't have any proof, but Rachel. Rachel is living, breathing proof!" His voice kept getting louder and louder.

He paced between the two beds.

Rachels eyes got wide when he yelled the last bit at Toni. She sat up and scurried further back on the bed, curling up in the corner where the footboard met the wall.

Her heart was pounding in her ears. It was so loud, she thought the others could hear it.

When Richard glanced up from the floor his eyes softened, seeing he had startled Rachel.

"I think you should go Richard." Toni said frostily as she got off the floor. "You're scaring her."

She added when he made no move to leave.

After a moment she threw his jean jacket at him and went to hold open the door for him.

Glancing at Toni, he stepped closer to the bed and offered Rachel his jean jacket with a small smile.

Tentatively she reached out for it and pulled it close. She had one of his sweatshirts and his jean jacket. The thought comforted her.

"You know where my room is if you need me." He said quietly as he made his way to the door.

She waved slightly at his back. She wasn't sure she wanted him to leave.

Toni passed the time for them with movies, and got irritated when someone made a bad decision in them. She couldn't get Rachel to say anything. She tried everything she could think of, but the other girl still hadn't made a sound by the time it had started getting late.

Rachel had stared at the wall since he had left, not even acknowledging her roommate. It still hurt a lot, even hours after. She was beginning to wonder if the pain would ever ease up.

It was long after midnight when she was sure that Toni was asleep. Carefully sliding off her bed, she pulled his sweatshirt down, it went to just below her hips. Going in the closet, she pulled on some underwear before making her way to the door.

She knew she was being paranoid, but she was beyond terrified. Looking over her shoulder every other step, she slowly made her way to Richards room. After a long ten minute walk that normally took less than three minutes, she finally made it.

Nervously she raised a fist and knocked on his door.

She looked both ways before knocking again, knowing that the longer she was in the hallway the bigger the chance was that Roy would come and find her.

She didn't want him anywhere near her.

Ever. Again.

She could still hear him telling her that she wanted it, that she liked it.

She raised her hand to knock again when the door opened.

Richard smiled when he saw it was her and reached out for her hand slowly.

"Is this okay?" He asked as he took her hand in his. He didn't want to scare her.

"He hurt you, Roy did this. Didn't he?" When she looked away and squeezed his hand, he knew that he was right.

She moved into his room and shut the door behind her, sighing with her back against the door.

"Come here Rach," He gently pulled her into his arms and just held her. She was shaking in his arms.

"It's all right, hush now Rachel. You're safe here." She looked up at him and he realized just how upset she really was.

"It's over now. Shhh Rachel, baby, it's over now." He picked her up bridal style and she tensed in his arms, trying to slow her pounding heartbeat.

She had to force herself to see the differences between him and Roy.

Richard was so much sweeter, he was kinder. He loved her.

He'd _never _hurt her.

He laid her down on the inside of the bed and laid down next to her. He wanted to pull her closer but he didn't know if she'd let him.

He placed a hand gently against her cheek, when she leaned into his touch he wrapped an arm around her waist and moved closer.

She stiffened, watching him, before convincing herself that it was all right to let him get closer.

He loves me, Rachel kept reminding herself. Letting her body relax, she moved a little closer to him.

She curled into herself, tired, in pain, and scared.

He carefully lifted her off the bed and slid an arm under her head, knowing she thought he was a better pillow than an actual pillow.

Rachel kept her eyes closed as he pulled her closer, wrapping her safely in his arms. Roy didn't hold her like this.

Placing her hands on his chest, she sighed softly. She was safe in his arms, Roy couldn't hurt her now.

She slid one of her legs between his and looked up at him, running her fingers through his hair before letting them fall to the silver chain and all the mystery about it. He smiled.

He placed a kiss on her forehead and ran his fingers through her hair. "Go to sleep Rach, you need it."

She closed her eyes and before long, she was fast asleep.

Richard watched her sleep, knowing that what Roy had done, had broken her. He knew it was going to be a long hard road for her to be able to get passed this, but he was planning on helping her however he could.

When Richards alarm went off the next morning, he silenced it with a tired groan. Rachel was still sleeping next to him. He smiled fondly at her before climbing out of bed and getting dressed.

Just as he was pulling a sweatshirt over his head he noticed that Rachel was sitting up in his bed, watching him.

"Hey you," He said as he grabbed his shoes and took a seat on the bed by her while he put them on.

"Are you going to go to class today?" She shrugged, and slid off the bed, pulling the sweatshirt down as she did.

"You don't have to, Rachel."

She turned and looked at him, she knew if she didn't go to class today then she probably just never would.

Going through his clothes, she found a pair of sweatpants and a bra and shirt.

Richard walked up to her and placed a kiss on the top of her head. "You are one of the bravest girls I know."

After they were both dressed for the day, they left his room, and Richard walked her to her first class of the day.

Heads turned as they passed, but Rachel just tried to ignore them and looked at the floor.

He placed a soft kiss on her forehead before promising to be waiting for her outside her last class. He hated leaving her on her own, especially considering she still hadn't spoken since him and Toni found her on the floor yesterday.

Taking a deep breath, Rachel walked into her math class and took her seat in the middle of the room.

A couple girls a few seats over were whispering, "I heard she cheated with Roy."

"She screamed for him too."

"I wonder if Richard would ever go out with me if they end up breaking up?"

Rachel bit her lip in frustration when she heard them giggling.

She lowered her eyes to her desk, waiting for the class to start. She could hear more people talking about her.

Almost every girl on campus knew who her boyfriend was, and they all wanted him for themselves.

After class she was making her way out the door when one girl stopped her. "Are you going to dump Richard for Roy?"

The stranger seemed a little on the eager side and this killed Rachel. Without even answering, she shoved past the girl and started making her way to Richards room.

She couldn't do it.

She couldn't listen to people talk about what Roy did to her, like she was okay with what had happened.

When she finally made it to his room she tried the door, only to find it locked. Leaning against the door, she let her backpack slide to the floor.

She stared helplessly at the ceiling and joined her backpack on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest, resting her head on her knees.

She didn't want to go back to her room. Toni didn't have any classes till later today, and after her not believing Richard last night when he said Roy did it, she didn't want to be around her roommate at the moment.

She pulled out her phone and stared at the screen before she finally put it back in her pocket. Richard was in class, she couldn't text him.

With a deep, trembling breath she got off the floor and flung her backpack over her shoulder. She started walking down the hall towards the stairs. She wasn't going to just sit in front of his door, waiting for Roy to pass by. She couldn't bring herself to bother Richard during class.


	8. Trusting A Friend

On Her Own

Chapter 8

Rachel started jogging when she left the building, she was going to go to the woods. She was on her own. She let her thoughts fade away as she ran faster. It felt good to run.

When she came to the edge of the tree line, she slowed down a little. She followed the same route that Richard had when he carried her through the trees the other day.

She took her phone out of her bag and put it in her pocket before letting her backpack fall to the ground.

Reaching up she jumped and grabbed a branch, trying to climb onto it.

When Rachel had finally managed to get her feet onto the branch, she checked the time and started going up.

Thirty feet later, Rachel's phone rang in her pocket and it nearly caused her to fall out of the tree. Trying to get her breathing and balance under control, she accepted the call without saying anything.

"Rachel, where are you?" She could hear the fear in his voice.

"Rach, where are you? Are you all right?"

Taking a deep breath, she replied quietly. "I'm in the woods…"

She wasn't sure he had heard her until he sighed in relief on his end. "Stay put, I'll be there soon."

Sliding her phone back into her pocket, she decided that it was time to head down. She grabbed a branch and tried to lower herself so she could find a foot hold, but she only came across empty air.

Panicking, she looked down, the ground spun far below her. Putting two feet on one branch she sat down and waited with her back against the trunk. She kept sneaking looks at the ground and regretted it every time it spun below her.

Richard was jogging through the woods, scanning the area as he went.

This was one of the last places he had expected to find her.

Spotting her backpack at the base of a tree, he stopped and looked around.

"Rachel?"

Twig fell from above his head, looking up he saw her sitting on a branch, about forty feet up.

Richard climbed up and caught her gaze with a smile. "It's harder going down when you're alone, isn't it?"

She nodded.

"Come on, I'll guide you." She slowly got to her feet and started lowering herself to the ground, listening to Richards instructions.

When they both dropped to the ground, Richard wrapped his arms around her in a giant hug. "I waited for you outside your last class, your professor said you never showed up."

She didn't answer. She wasn't sure if he'd heard what people were saying and she didn't want to talk about it.

Stepping out of his arms she reached for her bag, only to have Richard throw it over his shoulder.

"Lets get back inside. It's getting cold." She nodded, taking his hand in hers as they walked back to the dorm.

Rachel stepped into his room silently, he had been watching her closely.

"Rachel? Will you talk to me?" She had expected him to sound mad or something along those lines. But he wasn't.

She took a seat on the edge of his bed and he came and sat next to her.

"I need you to tell me what Roy did the other day, you don't have to give me the details if you don't want to. But you need to tell me." He needed to know if Roy had raped her.

She pulled one of his hands into her lap and played with his fingers. "He hurt me…" Her voice was scratchy from lack of use.

"He's saying I cheated on you. But I didn't…" She wrapped both her hands around one of his.

"He got what he wanted this time?" Richard asked placing his other hand over hers. He couldn't think of any other way to ask it without really saying it.

She closed her eyes and nodded.

"I couldn't stop him, I tried…I tried…"

Richard leaned over and placed a soft kiss on her temple, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "Why don't we go for a walk?"

"Why?" She asked nervously, wondering what he was planning.

"We need to tell someone about this."

She pulled away from him, she didn't want to tell anyone. Then she'd be a snitch. If she told. Roy would know how scared she was of him. She couldn't tell anyone. He would win. She had to do it on her own.

"No, we can't tell anyone. I have to handle this on my own. NO ONE can know about it!" Her voice was shrill. She was freaking out. She couldn't tell anyone. She had to do it on her own. She _would _deal with this on her own.

"Rachel," Richard said slowly.

Her eyes were wide with panic as she moved away from him, flattening herself against the headboard. She was shaking her head at him frantically.

"Rachel," He started again softly, slowly. They needed to tell someone but he didn't know how to get her to understand why.

"Roy hurt you. He never should have been able to do this in the first place. If we don't tell anyone about this he could do it again. He could do it to someone else. Do you want to let him hurt others like he did to you?"

He could see her trying to process what he had said, and that gave him hope.

"Can't you just talk to him instead?" The less people involved the better, was how she saw it.

"Rach, that won't be enough. He won't listen to me." Richard tried to move closer but she tried unsuccessfully to move backwards again since she was already against the headboard.

"I don't want everyone to know what he did to me! I thought _you _would be able to realize how much he hurt me." And with that she jumped off the bed and started for the door.

Richard put his hand against the door shutting it, just as she had managed to open it a crack.

She turned to face him and tried to glare, stepping back so her back was against the door.

He put one hand on each side of her head, trapping her where she was. "I _do _know how much he hurt you Rachel, that's why I want you to tell someone." He reigned in the frustration at how stubborn she was being. But he reminded himself, she was just scared, trying to protect herself.

"I don't want anyone else to know. Please, can you please just tell him to stay away from me? Please Richard!" She put her hands to her head, thinking it would keep her world from spinning out of control.

She looked at the floor before looking back at him. "Please, can you just tell him to stay away? If he doesn't listen…then I'll tell someone."

Richard finally nodded, and let his arms fall to his sides.

"Thank you Richard." He could feel her shaking as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"I feel so dirty from him…"

Wrapping one arm around the small of her back, the other stroked her hair. "It's alright Rachel. I'll take care of it for you. _I'll take care of you_!"

He pulled back a bit and she looked up at him.

Leaning down, he kissed her softly. She tensed against him momentarily, but quickly relaxed again when one of his hands made its way under her shirt and rubbed circles against her cold skin.

When he pulled back, she buried her face against his chest. "He's telling everyone that I had sex with him, that I wanted it."

"Baby, I know. It's all right though." He placed a kiss on her head.

"A bunch of girls came up to me all excited today, thinking if they told me about you and Roy, that I'd go out with them. But you know what?"

She shook her head slowly without looking up at him.

"I told them that I'd go out with them, only after they were smarter and prettier than you." Rachel looked up at him, disbelievingly.

"Really?" He nodded, giving her a small smile as she buried her face in his shirt again.

A few hours later they were laying on Rachels bed in her room.

They were just laying together quietly, listening to music.

That quiet was disrupted when Toni came bustling in. "Hi guys."

Rachel stiffened, still irritated with her roommate.

Richard moved to sit up but Rachel placed a hand on his chest. "Don't go,"

"Rachel-"

"Please don't go." She interrupted quietly. She looked up at him, her eyes begging him to stay.

He sighed, and she almost smiled, knowing that he was going to let her have her way. "You know I don't like spending the night while Toni is here…but I'll give in tonight. Especially since I know you're still upset."

He laid back down and she curled up against him, resting her head on his chest. He trailed lazy circles along the bare skin of her arm.

After a few minutes he sat up. "I'm going to use the bathroom. I'll be right back."

Once he was gone Toni spoke. "Was he telling the truth? The other day? Was it really Roy?"

Rachel looked over at her, Toni was laying on her back staring at the ceiling.

"Yeah. It was Roy. This wasn't his first attempt either."

The were both quiet for a moment, looking at their own half of the ceiling. "He…Roy has done it to you before?"

Rachel shook her head, even though Toni couldn't see her. She couldn't keep her voice from shaking. "He's tried before, this-this is the first time he's actually…you know…"

Toni sat up and looked over at Rachel and they locked eyes just as Richard walked back in.

He glanced between the two girls, before laying back down with Rachel and wrapping his arms around her.

"Toni? You do believe me, don't you?" Rachel raised her head to look over her boyfriend at her roommate.

Toni nodded sadly. She didn't want to believe that one of her friends could do something like that.

Toni laid back down and rolled so she was looking at the wall.

Rachel laid her head back on Richards arm as his hand snaked up under her shirt, pulling her closer.

Rachel closed her eyes and listened to his breathing. She knew he was awake, listening to hers as well. "I love you Rachel."

His breath ghosted across her skin, and she shivered.

Their eyes glowed in the dark. "I love you too."

Wednesday morning Rachel was sitting in her english class, ignoring the looks Roy kept giving her.

Richard had promised to corner him after class and warn him to keep his distance. She was itching for her professor to dismiss them for the day.

She just wanted to get away from Roy.

When her professor set her free, Rachel practically ran out the door. She didn't have any other classes today, for which she was grateful.

She walked across campus, fighting the urge to run. She wanted to try something, she knew it would keep her mind busy if she could still do it.

She had been thinking about it all day, and had thrown some clothes in her backpack earlier that morning before she had left her room.

Richard was still in class, so she knew he wouldn't be worried anytime soon, figuring she would be in her room starting on her homework, like she usually did.

She stopped at a coffee shop on her way across campus for a hot drink and quick snack. With both things in hand she kept on walking, wondering why the campus had to be so big.

Walking into the building, she followed the signs to the girls locker room. Pulling her change of clothes out of her bag, Rachel prayed it would still fit her. It did, she realized excitedly. She hadn't put it on since her freshman year of high school.

Digging through her bag, she found her roll of medical tape and wrapped both her wrists.

She pulled her hair into a high pony and made her way to the door, with her bag in hand.

Passing a mirror, she paused.

The blue jeweled, long sleeved leotard still fit her perfectly. She smiled softly at her reflection and wished herself good luck, praying that she didn't regret this.

Pushing through the doors, she stopped and looked around, a glint in her eyes as she took in the uneven bars, balance beams, spring floor and vaulting tables. The sent of chalk dust filled the air, calming her like it always had.

Walking along the edge of the room, she put her backpack down and jogged over to the spring floor to warm up.


	9. Meeting Someone New

On Her Own

Chapter 9

Richard paced his room. He had called Rachel over a dozen times and she still wasn't picking up her phone.

No one seemed to know where she was.

She had been acting weird before they went to their classes earlier that morning and that was what had him worried. It wasn't like her to just disappear either.

He had already combed the woods, the campus was too big to search alone on foot.

Minutes turned into hours with no change except for his increasing worry. All he could think about was that it was his fault this had happened to her. If he had just spent the night in her room with her, or had her stay in his room that night…

Roy wouldn't have had the chance to hurt her…

Someone knocked on the door, interrupting his thoughts.

Opening the door, he found a sheepish looking Rachel on the other side.

Her hair was wet and she looked freshly showered, wearing a pair of sweat pants and a hoodie. She must have gone by her room.

"Hi," She looked up at him shyly. "Can I come in?"

Richard just stared at her before realizing that he was still standing in front of the door. "You had me worried." Nodding, he stepped to the side and let her in.

Shutting the door, he opened his mouth again, but she spoke first.

"I'm sorry that I worried you. I-I was walking around the campus…just enjoying the quiet." She fumbled for a believable excuse.

He moved closer to her as she let her backpack drop to the floor. "I really am sorry." She whispered, taking a step back.

Realizing he was scaring her, he took a step back and held his hands out to the side. "It's all right Rach. You're here now, and you're safe. That's all that really matters."

"I talked to Roy earlier," Richard said, talking a slow step forward. When she didn't move away, he smiled and wrapped his arms around her.

"I told him that we're going to tell someone about all this if he ever tries anything like it again. When you didn't pick up your phone I thought he might have gone looking for you." He placed a kiss on the top of her head, thinking about the punches that had been thrown between the two of them.

"I haven't seen him since class this morning." She pressed her forehead against his chest.

"Good." Richard picked her up, she immediately tensed against him. A whimper escaped from her lips.

He whispered in her ear, "Easy baby, I got you tonight." He brushed a kiss against her temple. He could feel her heart pounding erratically.

"Rachel, breathe." He made sure to keep his voice calm. "Take deep breaths. You're fine."

She pulled at his shirt as he laid on the bed with her in his arms. "Deep breaths." He said slowly.

He wouldn't ask her where she really went. Not tonight. She was here, safe. That's all that really mattered.

He watched her take a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Thats my girl."

"Wh-what? Y-yo-your girl?" Those words, Roy had said the same thing right before he did it.

Richard nodded confusedly as she pushed against his chest.

She needed to get away. It couldn't happen again. She wouldn't let it.

Moving out of his arms she backed herself against the wall. Not again.

"Hey, Rachel. It's all right." He sat up and looked at her before getting off the bed, giving her space.

She physically relaxed seeing the distance between them. "I'm not going to hurt you Rachel."

"I'm not going to hurt you. I'd _never _hurt you." He repeated. Richard hated that Roy had done this to her. "I promise."

"Do you trust me?" He waited for her response.

She nodded slowly, but wouldn't look at him.

"Can I lay down with you?" He asked after a few minutes of silence. She nodded again, still wary. But he had said that he wouldn't hurt her. He had promised. He wasn't Roy. Somewhere in her heart she knew he loved her.

He laid down on his back, on his half of the small bed and she watched his every move. She kept trying to wrap her head around the fact that he wouldn't hurt her.

Inching closer, she sat down next to him. Reaching for one of his hands, she pulled it into her lap. She loved to play with his hands, they were so much smoother than hers. Hers were all rough and calloused from her days of gymnastics. He watched her amused, as she ran a finger across the palm of his hand.

"I'm your girl?" She glanced up from their hands. He nodded, moving his gaze from their hands to her face.

"I'm only your girl. Only your girl." She sounded like she was trying to convince herself, letting her gaze fall back to their hands.

He squeezed her hand, gaining her attention again. "You're mine, Rach. And I'm selfish, I'm not going to share you with anyone else."

She bit her lip. "I'm _your_ girl." And with that, she laid down next to him.

They were laying on their sides facing each other, when Richard took her hand and brought it up to his lips. Kissing her knuckles. She let her eyes close slowly, inching closer to him. One of her hands slowly made its way under his shirt, up his hard stomach.

He smirked, "Now that's something you haven't asked for lately." Sitting up he pulled his shirt over his head.

Rachel didn't look at him as she curled up against him. She missed this. His fingers trailed up her arm and down her back. She put a hand against his chest, loving the ripple of muscles under her hand. "Richard," His name was nothing but a ghost on her lips.

He pressed a soft, lingering kiss to her forehead and pulled the blankets around her shoulders. "Goodnight Rachel."

She felt his arm wrap around her waist. She let him tug her closer to him.

Relaxing in his arms she slipped into her dreams where Roy wasn't a threat.

She could feel Richard moving next to her, she was barely awake. The bed shifted as he stood up. She felt him pull the blankets up around her. It was colder without Richard in bed next to her. Hushed voices whispered back and forth, the light flicked on and back off again. She rolled over, blinking sleep from her eyes.

"Richard?" It came out as a whisper.

He looked over his shoulder at her before walking back over to the bed. "Shhhh, go back to sleep Rach." He ran his fingers through her hair before rubbing her back soothingly.

She patted the spot next to her lightly, just on this side of sleep. "Come back to bed,"

Someone stood behind Richard but it was too dark and she was too tired to tell who it was. The stranger whispered something to him and clapped him on the shoulder before moving out of sight.

Her eyelids were heavy, fighting to stay awake. Richard climbed in bed and wrapped her in his strong arms. Only then did she give in and allow herself to fall back asleep.

When Richards alarm went off the next morning, he reached over to shut it off and climbed out of bed. Rachel rolled onto her back and rubber her eyes. "Do we have to go to class?"

Richard raised an eyebrow at her, smirking. "And this coming from the one that doesn't have any classes tomorrow? Uh, yeah. We do have to go to class, at least you don't have english today." When she frowned at the mention of her class with Roy, he leaned over and tapped her lightly on the nose.

She smiled, sitting up as he moved over to his closet to start getting ready for classes. Glancing over at her backpack, she grinned mentally. Her last class ended two hours before his, and she had a fresh leotard in her bag.

Getting up she started getting ready for the day, humming as she pulled on a pair of skinny jeans.

Richard glanced over his shoulder at her, eyebrows raised in amusement. "Someone's in a good mood. It's really nice to see you happy Rachel, I thought it would be months before you really smiled again."

Her smile shrunk a bit. "I don't know if I'm there yet, but I'm trying. I want to be happy. I want to forget and be able to move past it."

It was cold outside, with a brutally chilling wind. Rachel hurried back into her dorm just as the sun was beginning to set. Going up, she made her way to Richards room, hoping she had beat him back.

She had managed to get in just over an hour and a half in the gym, flipping across the spring floor. She wanted to beat him back to his room tonight so he wouldn't worry about her.

Walking up to his door, she knocked. There was music coming from the other side, she figured he had gotten here before her. Knocking on the door again, she was shocked to see it wasn't Richard on the other side.

"So you must be the infamous Rachel." A big black man had opened the door. He was tall with a shaved head and a sturdy looking build. Wearing a blue muscle shirt and dark jeans, he stepped back so she could enter the room.

"Is Richard here?" She'd never met his roommate before, and with ghosts of Roy, her _friend, _hurting her, she wasn't too sure about spending time with guys she didn't know.

"Nah, but he'd be mad if he found you waiting in the hall. Would you be willing to save me from his fury and come in?" He gave her a small smile so she would know he was joking.

"I don't want to bother you, I think I'll just go back to my room."

"Nonsense," He moved to grabbed her hand to keep her from leaving. "It's fine, really."

She tensed and tried to pull her hand back. She wasn't going to give him power over her. When he let go of her she took another step back and took a deep breath. This was Richards roommate, and he would be back any minute.

Offering a small smile as an apology for her little freak out, she walked into the room and put her backpack on Richards bed. Glancing around she found his laptop and powered it on. While it was booting up, she looked over at his roommate who was sitting at his desk staring at his laptop screen.

"How did you know who I was?" He looked up at her before closing the laptop and leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head, chuckling.

"He talked about you constantly when you two first started dating, and he had a picture of you as his wallpaper on his laptop."

Rachel smiled, it had been his favorite picture of her. "I remember that, I was the one who finally changed it." They both laughed.

"And from what I've seen, you practically live here." He noted, nodding towards her clothes hanging in the closet. She blushed slightly, looking down at the computer in her lap.

"I'm Victor Stone by the way." He commented, opening the laptop again. "But my friends call me Vic."

A few minutes later, the door opened and Victor spoke without taking his eyes off the computer. "Hey Dickie Boy, I found something of yours,"

Rachel jumped off his bed and wrapped her arms around him before he had even put his backpack down.

"I found your girlfriend." Richard could faintly see the reflection of Victors grin in the screen. Rolling his eyes at his roommate, he leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of her head. Wrapping one arm around her, his other held the strap of his backpack.

"Hey Rach,"

She smiled to herself. "I missed you."

Richard chuckled softly, tossing his backpack aside. Reaching over he hit Victor in the back of the head before scooping Rachel up in his arms. She tensed momentary, before relaxing against him.

Richard moved his computer to the side, and took a seat on his bed with his back against the wall. Relaxing his hold on her, she sat in his lap and leaned against him, fingering his silver chain. With her cheek pressed to his chest, Rachel looked up and Richard claimed her lips with his.

"Get a Room!" Victor called jokingly after a few minutes.

Rachel pulled away, putting a hand on her cheek to try and hide her blush. Richard looked over at his friend and threw a pillow at him. "We're in a room," He commented before taking the hand off her cheek and placing a kiss to her palm.


	10. Needing A Release

On Her Own

Chapter 10

A few hours later Victor was just getting into bed. It was nearing 2 am. He looked across the room to see Richard checking something on his phone, with Rachel curled up next to him, her head resting on his arm. "Hey, Dick?" Victor whispered across the quiet room.

Richard looked over at his friends bed to see him laying on his side, propping his head up with his head. "Whats up?"

"Rachel…is she like germaphobic or something? She freaked out earlier when I reached for her hand." Victor tilted his head to the side, waiting for his answer.

"No, nothing like that." Richard whispered back. Rachel rolled over, and buried her nose into his side, pulling at his shirt. "She's just been a little on edge lately." Richard finished, placing a hand over the one that had tangled itself in his shirt.

"What happened?" Victor asked as Rachel tensed against Richard who just shook his head.

"You don't have any morning classes tomorrow Vic?" Richard asked as he rolled onto his side so he could better wrap his arms around Rachel.

"No. I don't have any classes." Richard nodded to himself, Rachel relaxing against him once again.

"Could you just keep an eye on her for me? I have one class tomorrow-"

Victor interrupted him. "Dick, it's fine. I can watch her." Victor heard his friend sigh in relief.

"Thanks, I'm just worried about her. And she's been kind of out of it lately and-" And he was worried about Roy showing up at the door when he wasn't around.

"_Dick," _Victor hissed at him. "I already said it's fine. Besides, it's easy to see why you fell for her. I can understand that you don't want her going and getting herself into trouble. I'm going to take a stab in the dark and guess she has a bad habit of finding trouble?" Richard frowned in the dark. He knew that if something happened while he wasn't around Victor would have Rachels back.

"Something like that…Thanks Vic, I owe you one." He heard his roommate chuckle softly as he placed a soft kiss on Rachels temple and let himself drift off to sleep.

Friday morning Rachel woke to the tapping of a keyboard. Sitting up in bed, she looked around for Richard.

"Morning Sleeping Beauty." She noticed Victor working on his laptop over at his desk again.

"Oh, hey Victor. Did Richard already leave for class?" She wondered what time it was, and how Richard had managed to get out of his room without waking her.

"Yeah, he left like an hour ago and didn't want to wake you." She nodded, her brain working over time. His class was two and a half hours, if she was lucky she be able to get an hour in the gym.

Sliding off the bed, she pulled on some clean clothes and gathered her stuff together.

"Where are you going?" She looked over her shoulder at him.

"Whats it matter?" She asked, acting like she didn't care.

He shrugged. "Dick asked me to keep an eye on you, said he was worried but he didn't say why. Would you be willing to tell me what you did that got him worried in the first place?"

She wondered if this was his way of telling her that he was more worried than he let on the other night when she was at the gym. Or was there something else he was worried about that she wasn't aware of. "I'm gonna go shower and chill in my room with my homework." She said after a short silence. Lying was a lot easier when it wasn't Richard.

Victor nodded not seeing anything wrong with that. "Alright, enjoy your shower." He put two fingers to his forehead in a small salute.

Once the door was shut behind her, Rachel jogged down the stairs to her room. Toni wasn't there, and she was kind of grateful for that. She didn't feel like talking.

Changing into a leotard, she pulled on some sweatpants over her leo, along with a sweatshirt after she had wrapped her wrists. Glancing out the window, she noticed it was snowing. Groaning she threw on Richards jean jacket as well and left her room.

Jogging slowly, she made her way across campus.

Richards phone vibrated in his pocket during class. Sliding it out, he glanced at the screen. It was from Victor. _Just saw your girl jog out of the building, she was going towards the south end of campus. You asked me to keep an eye out, so I'm following her. _

Richard wondered where she could be going. _I'm on way, where are you? _Sending that text he packed up his stuff and told his professor that something came up and he had to leave.

Rachel stood on the balls of her feet before falling into a run. Doing a roundoff back handspring, she threw herself into an arabian. Sticking the landing perfectly. Her blood was roaring in her ears. Taking two steps back, she began another pass. Roundoff, back tuck, layout, layout with a added half twist. Pivoting, she faced the empty floor. Lunging into a handstand she walked the length of the floor on her hands, pivoted and kicked down from her hands, only to run and punch into a full layout, one and a half. Finishing that pass, she threw her hands in the air, saluting imaginary judges. Panting slightly.

When she pivoted, she noticed someone leaning against the wall by her stuff. "W-what are you doing here?" She never would have expected him to show up here.

"Is this where you keep disappearing to?"

The familiar burning in her muscles suddenly felt less good, as he moved closer. "It helps. When I'm flying…I can't afford to worry or- or think about Roy…"

She looked at the mats and noticed he had taken his shoes off, he was walking towards her. "How much of that did you actually see?"

He shrugged. Arms folded across his chest, his eyes boring down on her. "Enough to be impressed, and wonder why I'm only just now seeing this side of you. I thought you preferred to keep your feet on the ground?" She could hear a bit of amusement in his voice and decided he couldn't be too mad.

"I tried to put this part of my life behind me. But lately, I've needed a distraction…a release." She still wasn't looking at him and tensed when he placed one hand on her waist while the other went under her chin, lifting it.

"Well my little gymnast, you are quite amazing." His eyes were big and bright as he took in the jeweled purple and blue swirls, sleeveless leotard she had on.

"Richard? Could I show you something?" She asked, excitement leaking into her voice, he knew he'd never be able to say, 'no' to her when she was like this. "Of course."

Standing on her tip toes she kissed him on the cheek before jogging over to the corner. "Ready?" She was smiling, excited. Her pulse started racing at the idea of someone watching her.

Richard nodded.

Running she did a roundoff followed by two back handsprings and threw herself into a back whip, with a one and a half twist, stumbling slightly on the landing as she rolled her ankle. She just prayed he hadn't noticed.

She kind of smiled as he came up to her, picking her up with his hands on her hips and swinging her around in a circle. "That was amazing!"

His grin was contagious, and before long she was grinning too. So what if she fumbled the landing a bit, she could work on it.

"That's the first whip I've done since ninth grade…" She was still trying to catch her breath. She'd never been able to do a one and a half twist after a whip before.

He lowered her so her feet were on the floor before pulling her tight against him in a hard passionate kiss. She pushed against his shoulders, stepping back and falling to the ground when her rolled ankle decided it didn't want to take her weight.

Wide eyed, she looked up at him. She saw Roy, grinning. Advancing, telling her how much she wanted it. He grabbed her shoulder and she jerked away from his touch, falling to lay on her back. Still she tried to push herself farther away from him.

Blinking, she saw black hair and blue eyes, not orange and brown.

Richard was kneeling next to her. His hand cupped her cheek, giving her a small smile. He didn't want to scare her, he needed her to know that. "You're hurt." He saw her ankle give out.

"I rolled it. It'll be fine." His smile got a little bigger.

"Now what kind of boyfriend would I be if I let you walk all the way back to the dorm with a hurt ankle?"

She shrugged and looked at the mat below her. "I'll be fine. I promise. I use to roll my ankle all the time."

"Is this okay?" He asked as his thumb stroked her cheek. She barley nodded.

His smile grew some more and he laid down on his side next to her. She rolled onto her side so her could face him. "Is it still snowing?"

Richard nodded, taking her hand in his. "Yeah, there's a couple of inches out there already."

Rachel sat up. "We should probably get back before it gets much deeper."

They both got to their feet and walked over to where Rachels stuff was. Pulling on their shoes and coats, they both walked out of the gym and into the swirling snow.

By the time they got back to Richards room the both of them were frozen and soaked to the bone. "I'm going to take a shower to warm up, why don't you go take one too?"

She nodded, collecting some clothes from his closet and made her way to the showers. He watched her go before he did the same.

After she had showered and was dressed, she went back into his room and spread out on his bed.

"The school sent out a message, everyone has to be in the dorms by nine, because of the storm." Victor commented, he was sitting on his bed leaning against the wall. They could hear the wind howling outside.

She nodded as the door opened and Richard walked in. She spread her legs wide and laid her arms out to the side, making sure she took up the whole bed.

"And here I thought only girls took forever in the bathroom." Victor joked as Richard threw his balled up towel at his friend.

"Oh haha, if you were as cold as I was you would have taken just as long." Richard retorted, walking closer to the bed. He put his hands on his hips when he realized his girlfriend was taking up the entire of the small mattress. "Are you planning on making room for me?"

She giggled softly and shook her head.

He smirked. "Alright then, I guess I'll just have to squish you."

Rachels eyes widened and she shifted so she was flat against the wall as he moved to lay on top of her.

Victor watched as Richard froze mid movement, before sitting on the edge. He whispered something that Victor couldn't hear and extended a hand out to her. He noticed that Rachel was nervous as she laid her hand in his. Bringing her hand up, he kissed the back of it and whispered to her again. She slowly peeled herself away from the wall and laid down in Richards arms. He knew something must have happened to her, and neither of them liked to talk about it.

A few hours passed and they had all long since fallen asleep. Victors phone rang, waking him up. Not two minutes later he was out of his bed and next to his roommates. "Dick, _Dick_. Wake up." He shook his friends shoulder gently.

"Ugh, what? Whats up?" He spoke softly, but didn't move. Rachel was curled up against him with her head resting on his chest, a hand sprawled over his heart. Under the blankets one of her legs was lying between his.

"I just got a call from a buddy of mine. The storm knocked out the power. Some of the staff is going around doing a bed check." Victor could practically see the wheels in his head turning, figuring out why it was a problem.

Richard groaned softly and turned on his side, trying to shift Rachel off of him. She moaned and tried to rest her head on his arm. Whimpering quietly, she curled into a ball.

Richard sat up and ran a hand through his hair, gazing at his sleeping girlfriend. Her hair was still damp from her shower earlier, sleeping in what he knew to be nothing more than one of his shirts and a pair of her booty shorts, hiding under the shirt. He leaned over to brush some hair out of her face, even in her sleep she still leaned into his touch.

He couldn't believe they were doing a bed check, they were in college for crying out loud. "Alright, I need to get her out of here. The R.A.'s don't care what we do but I bet the staff won't be too happy to find her in here." He knew he needed to get Rachel back to her room.

Victor nodded, and turned to pull an extra blanket out of a drawer from under his bed. "There's no electricity, so we get no heat. It won't be long before the halls start getting cold."


	11. Power Outage

On Her Own

Chapter 11

Giving the blanket to Richard, Victor sighed. He knew Richard was keeping something from him.

Getting off the bed, Richard threw on a sweatshirt. Laying the blanket flat on the bed where he had been, he reached over and lifted Rachel onto it.

Lifting her up with the blanket, he turned to Victor, who fixed it so she was covered.

"You do know it would have been easier to just wake her up, right?" Victor commented as he went and opened the door for them.

Richard didn't answer as he left the room, frustrated that he had to leave her in her room.

He didn't think she'd spent a single night on her own since it had happened. Walking down the hall to the stairs he began making his way to her room. Tightening his hold on her, he placed a kiss to her forehead. She stirred, slowly opening her eyes.

"Richard, where are we?" Her voice echoed loudly in the silent stairwell.

He leaned down and placed his lips against her forehead again, murmuring against her skin, "Shh, baby. I'm taking you to-"

"Oh this is just too good." Richard looked up and saw Roy standing at the bottom of the stairs, arms crossed.

Rachel saw him and started trembling, burying her face in his chest. Her heart was pounding so loud she thought for sure Richard and Roy could hear it.

"Aw, Rach, aren't you happy to see me?" Roy asked cynically, moving closer, step by step.

Richard backed up a few steps. Easing her onto her feet, he stepped in front of her. "Stay behind me Rachel. You're going to be fine." He spoke slowly but firmly. " I promise."

"Oh, is little Richie going to save you?" Roy grinned, watching her wrap her arms around herself.

"What do you want with her Roy, haven't you done enough?" Richard reached a hand behind him and rested it over one of hers.

"No, I've barely even begun. Believe me Richard, you haven't seen anything yet." Roy was smirking, pleased that he had been able to get under Richards skin so easily.

Fisting his hands, Richard growled and took a step forward before punching Roy in the jaw with everything he had. He heard Rachel gasp behind him but he didn't stop there. Roy took a step back and Richard advanced again. He swung and got him in the nose, which began bleeding almost immediately.

"Richard _stop_!" He looked and saw Rachel looking at him in horror.

That lapse in attention was all Roy needed to punch Richard in the cheek.

"Stop it, both of you!" She screamed at them. Richard ducked a swing and punched him in the stomach.

She ran past the both of them and grabbed the railing, doing a front handspring down to the first floor. Without looking back, she ran down the hall to her room.

Toni wasn't there. Figured.

She leaned against the door and shivered, she had dropped the blanket when she went over the railing.

It was only a few moments before she could hear footsteps on the other side of the door.

"Rach?" He tried the door knob.

It turned before he had even touched it. The door slowly swung open, revealing his girlfriend. "Rachel, are you all right?"

"I hadn't expected you to hit him." She stepped back, noticing he had the blanket in his arms.

"What he was saying, I am _not_ okay with that. I'm not going to give him the chance to hurt you again." He shut the door and draped the blanket around her, wrapping his arms around her from behind.

Turning around in his arms she laid her head on his shoulder and tugged lightly on his necklace. Her breathing ragged.

"I'm sorry I scared you last night." He whispered as he slowly picked her up. Bringing her over to her bed, he laid her in the middle of the mattress before taking a seat on the edge. She looked up at him, her eyes big and scared. He leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

"What about your cheek?" She raised a hand to the offending mark, leaning on her arm.

He placed a hand over hers and turned his head, kissing her palm. "Roy may act tough, but he's not very strong. I'll be fine." She closed her eyes and looked away, letting her hand fall to land next to her. Bending down he kissed her forehead.

Roy had been strong enough to pin her to the floor. He had been strong enough to brake her.

"I need to get back to my room," He murmured softly as he sat up again.

"No, please don't…" She grabbed his hand and held it to her chest so he could feel her pounding heart. Roy was probably still out there, just waiting for Richard to leave.

"Rachel, don't do this. The teachers are coming around to do a bed check. What do you think they'll say if they find us in bed together?" She didn't let go of his hand, but she shrugged in response.

"If I thought there was a way around this, you wouldn't be here. I hate the idea of leaving you alone, especially if you don't want to be, but I don't think there's a way around it this time."

She looked up at him, knowing and hating that he had to leave. "Will you come back later?" She didn't want to be on her own right now. And Richard had shown her, had shown her that she didn't have to be. She was realizing that she didn't have to do everything alone.

He gave her a soft smile. "Sure, I'll come back after they check my room. I'm just hoping you'll be fast asleep by then."

"If you look on my desk, my key is there. Take it, so you can just come right in." He wanted her to sleep, but she was planning on waiting up for him.

"I'll take the key with me, but only if you lay down and promise to try and go back to sleep." She replied by laying down and he fixed the blanket so it was better covering her before pulling the actual sheet and quilt up to cover her as well.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." He whispered before getting off the bed, grabbing the key and silently leaving the room.

She fought the urge to follow him and instead closed her eyes like he had asked, and tried to sleep.

She laid there in the dark, completely still for what felt like hours. Sighing she began counting sheep, finally losing consciousness somewhere around two hundred and thirty something.

Richard stood outside her door at four in the morning. He was sure that even if she hadn't wanted to, that she would be asleep by now and he didn't want to wake her up by getting in bed with her. But he _had _told her that he would come back, so as quietly as possible he gave in and went into her room.

The temperature had easily dropped fifteen or twenty degrees. The halls were even colder than the dorm rooms were. Looking at the bed, he saw her curled up in a little ball. Shivering.

Kicking his shoes off, he crossed to the bed and picked her up. Setting her down on the inside of the bed he laid down beside her.

Almost as if she sensed that he was in bed with her, Rachel shifted backwards so her back was flat against his chest. Shaking his head at her lightly, he wrapped an arm around her waist and drifted off to sleep.

Richard woke up the next morning shivering, he guessed it was around fifty degrees, if not colder. And considering that the room was deadly quiet, he assumed that the power was still out.

"Mmm, Richard?" He looked down at the beauty in his arms. Her eyes were still closed, but he knew by the way the muscles in her body tensed that she was awake.

He raised a hand to her cheek, it was freezing.

"I'm so cold," She whispered, nuzzling her nose against his side. Her nose was colder than her cheek.

"I know baby, I know." He whispered back wrapping his arms tighter around her and tucking her head under his chin. He wondered if it would be a little warmer upstairs, after all heat rises.

Rachel laid there, thinking. Roy had her terrified last night. She knew he'd never stop if he knew he could get away with it. Roy terrified her. But the idea of telling someone terrified her as well.

She couldn't keep being scared of him. She was on her own because of what he had done to her.

She felt Richards hand running through her hair.

Richard.

He helped her see things differently though. She was beginning to see that, maybe…she didn't have to be alone. She didn't think she wanted to be alone because of this anymore.

"Richard?" He sat up with her in his arms, along with the extra blanket he had brought down the night before.

"Pull on some sweatpants. I think it'll be a bit warmer upstairs." She looked at the floor as she put on the pants and grabbed a hoodie of his that he had let her borrow a while back, and pulled that on as well.

He draped the blanket across her shoulders and they went back upstairs to his room. She was on edge the whole time, expecting Roy to appear at any moment.

Richard had been right, it was warmer up in his room, but not by much. Victor was laying on his stomach in bed, doing something on his computer. He glanced at them over his shoulder before readjusting the blankets that were covering him.

The couple climbed into Richard bed with three extra blankets added on and curled up together. Richard sat up and pulled his shirt over his head before laying down again, he knew Rachel was mulling something over just like he knew she liked it when his shirt was off, it comforted her.

She sighed and laid her hands against his chest. He rolled onto his side and wrapped his arms around her, one under her head and the other around her waist. With her head on his arm, she rested her forehead against his chest.

She didn't want to tell anyone what had happened to her. But she didn't like feeling like she was on her own because of it, separated from everyone else.

Rachel hated herself because she was afraid of Roy. She hated Roy even more because he was the reason she was on her own.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Richard asked quietly. She didn't look up at him. He frowned and his eyebrows furrowed.

"Hey, Rach?" He knew she wasn't asleep, her breathing was too fast. "Talk to me, don't shut me out."

She hated herself for being on her own, for what happened, for being _afraid _of Roy.

"Rachel?" He felt her tensing against him. Whatever she had been thinking about hadn't been good and had upset her, he knew that much.

She hated that she hated herself. She hated that she was alone. Always alone.

"Rachel, baby…talk to me," She didn't want to be alone, and she hated that she couldn't stand being alone anymore. She had always done everything on her own. She had never needed anyone before.

"I hate myself." Her voice was muffled but Richard caught it.

"Don't say that Rach, you don't mean it. You're just upset." She rolled onto her stomach, her breathing shallow and uneven, he knew then that she was trying to keep from crying.

"Rachel, whatever it is, I promise it's all right. Rachel it's all right." She shook her head.

Richard rubbed small circles on her back. "Talk to me Rach, you don't have to handle everything on your own. Just please don't shut me out." She was shaking with silent sobs.

"I hate myself, and I hate Roy for doing this to me." She hated Roy, hated that she was afraid of him. He broke her, and she couldn't stop him.


	12. Opening Up

On Her Own

Chapter 12

Richard rubbed her back, trailing his fingers along her soft skin. "Rachel, what's wrong? Tell me what you're thinking."

She sniffed, trying to pull herself together again. "I don't want to be alone. He made me hate myself." He laid on his side, pulling her closer to him.

"You're not alone, you're _never _alone. I'll always be on your side." He whispered into her ear.

She shook her head, her forehead still against the mattress. "I feel like I'm alone, he broke me so easily."

"Shhhh, Rachel. It's not your fault, he made the choice." He snaked an arm under her and turned her on her side. "He made that choice Rach, it's not your fault." He tucked her against his chest, whispering to her.

"I can't go on like this," She pushed herself away from his chest. "Victor?" She wanted to stop Roy, and to do that she had to tell someone. She could feel Richards eyes on her.

"Rachel." Victor sat up in his bed with the blankets wrapped around him, waiting for her to talk.

She swallowed hard, feeling Richard take her hand in his, and stared at the wall. She couldn't look at either of them as she told Victor about how Roy had first tried to rape her when he was drunk after a halloween party, how he actually did it on the floor in her room and told people that she wanted it and liked it. And how he still didn't seem to be satisfied.

Victor didn't say a word while she explained. He remembered the halloween party, he had been there. He remembered that night more clearly than most who had been there. "You don't know who stopped him that night of the party?"

She shook her head, finally looking down at her boyfriend who was still laying down in front of her. He had a small smile on his lips.

"I'm so proud of you Rachel." He knew she hated opening up to people, this was a start that he could work with.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She still hated herself for being afraid, but she thought she might hate herself a little less now. "You realize, that by not telling anyone you were giving him power over you, right?" She looked over at Victor. She hadn't thought about that but it made sense.

"I know that now. And I'm done letting my fear of him control me." She didn't sound very sure, even to her own ears. But she _wanted _to be done being afraid of him.

"I know I shouldn't have waited so long to say something, and I'm sorry I got so upset with you over it Richard. I was way out of line with that…" She looked to the foot of the bed, away from the other two.

Richard leaned up on one arm and reached for her shoulder. She looked over at him, and he slid his hand up her neck and into her hair. Pulling her down for a kiss. "You don't have to be sorry," He murmured against her lips. "I love you, you lovely stubborn girl."

She smiled against him, and he ever so slowly deepened the kiss, not wanting to push her into it or frighten her.

Leaning into his lips, she put a hand on his chest, steadying herself. His other hand wrapped around the small of her back and pulled her closer to him. Losing her balance on his chest, she landed on top of him with a small 'oomph', breaking the all too short kiss. She looked up at him with a small smile. The world around her faded away as she let herself get lost in his eyes for the first time weeks.

All of a sudden, a soft hum filled the room. The three of them exchanged looks and grinned.

"They fixed the power." Rachel whispered. She looked away from the guys and took a deep breath. She knew what she should do, what she _needed _to do.

She just wasn't sure if she was strong enough to do it.

"You know what you need to do Rachel, right?" Richard asked running his hand along her arm.

"Actually…Richard told me how you flipped over the railing last night. Do people around here know that you can do that kind of stuff?" Victor asked moving forward on his bed so his legs were hanging over the side.

Rachel glanced at Richard and shook her head. She still felt kind of guilty that she'd never told him about that side of her.

"Well, maybe if Roy knew what you can do, he'd leave you alone? Maybe he'd be afraid that you could hold your own or put up enough of a fight to hold him off long enough for someone to show up?" Richard gaped at his roommate.

"No, don't go putting ideas in her head. She's put this off long enough, and look where it's gotten her." Richard was trying not to glare at his roommate.

Rachel stared at her boyfriend. She wasn't sure if she was ready to tell the school, but maybe she didn't have to. She wanted to be done being afraid of Roy. And maybe showing him that she wasn't completely defenseless was the first step. "But what if it works Richard?" He could hear the hope in her voice.

"I don't know Rach," She could tell how unsure he was about her not telling anyone.

"…Come on, Richie," She begged, quietly adding, "Please?"

His eyes widened. She hadn't used that name since before this whole fiasco with Roy began. Even though he knew it probably wasn't the best situation, he grinned. That had been the last thing he had been expecting to hear from her.

"Rachel…" He hadn't realized how much he had missed her calling him that. "Fine, but if this doesn't work, I'm dragging you to the dean and telling him myself." He gave in to keeping the secret for now, he was just glad that, maybe she was beginning to move past this and he didn't want to discourage her.

Victor noticed how Richard was looking at his girlfriend, and thought he should leave them alone for a bit. "Well, I think I'm gonna go see a few of my friends and start letting slip that Rachel here isn't all that she seems." He smiled over at her, and he was glad to see that she smiled back.

"Word travels like wildfire here…it won't be long before he knows." Rachel said softly, staring at the window and watching as the snow continued to fall.

Richard watched Victor get off his bed and held back a laugh as he ruffled Rachels hair. She glared at him, but wound up laughing as he walked out the door.

"I don't even think I can remember the last time you called me that." Richard said, moving his hands behind his head as he laid back down.

Rachel looked over at him, watching his chest rise and fall with each breath. "I know…"

"You use to call me 'Richie' whenever you wanted something." She laid down slowly and rested her head on his chest.

"That wasn't always the case…" She whispered wrapping an arm around his stomach.

"Baby, let me tell you. You aren't like the other girls here, never have been." She rubbed her cheek against his chest. "I love you so much Rachel."

"Richie," She laid her hand over his heart. "I love you."

He rolled onto his side and propped his head up on his arm, looking down at her.

She blushed and buried her face in his chest. She loved how the muscles rippled under her.

"Hey," He whispered, lifting her chin slightly. He leaned down touching their foreheads before lightly kissing her.

She sighed happily, leaning into his hand that moved to cup her cheek.

"Rachel, I want you to know that I'll support you in whatever you decide to do about Roy." He whispered in her ear. She looked up at him with dark eyes. He snuck an arm under her head and held her closer. "Whether you tell the school or not, it won't change how I feel about you. I'll still love you."

She nodded slightly. "Thank you." She whispered. She closed her eyes and relaxed in his arms.

Richard placed another soft kiss on her forehead before pulling the blankets up to cover them again. The heat was coming up but it was still too cold in his room.

She snuggled as close as she could get to him, and tucked her head under his chin. It wasn't long before she was struggling to keep her eyes open, then without even realizing it she gave in and let them stay shut.

Richard had drifted off not long after Rachel but was pulled from sleep when she started tossing in his arms. She cried out, almost like she was in pain before biting her lip. She was pushing him, pushing him away in her sleep.

"Rach, wake up." He shook her lightly.

He saw tears slip out as she tried to push him away again, whimpering. He made another attempt to wake her.

"Rachel? Wake up, it's just a dream." He shook her again, trying to wake her before she hurt herself.

"Wake up Rachel." She finally opened her eyes, instinctively pushing away from the body hovering over hers.

Her eyes were wild and she was gasping for breath. She laid there against the mattress, terrified from her nightmare. He could see beads of sweat along her forehead.

Richard sat up, and looked at her. "Breathe. Can you take a deep breath Rach?"

She didn't answer. Her eyes were dark and clouded. He could see that she was trembling.

"Rachel? Can you take a deep breath for me Rach?" Her clouded gaze met his clear one.

He took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Leaning forward slightly, he laid a hand in front of hers so their fingers were just barely brushing. She hesitated before pulling her hand back.

"I'm not going to hurt you Rachel, baby I'm worried about you." He paused and flipped his hand over so his palm was facing up. "I want to help you."

She looked down at his hand, staring at it.

She could still feel Roys hands. Rough, as they moved along her body, despite her attempt to get away. She bit her lip, trying to pull herself out of the memory.

"Rachel," She blinked, and Roy was sitting in front of her. But it was Richards hand resting on hers, his thumb slowly rubbing the inside of her wrist.

She took a deep, shaky breath.

"That's my girl." His voice was soft as he continued. "You're mine baby, and I'm selfish."

She watched him take a deep slow breath, then she did too.

"Richie?" She was hesitant, and that only made him more aware of her.

He closed the space between them, and brushed her hair out of her face. "It was only a dream Rach, it can't hurt you now."

She nodded.

"Okay, get up. You need to get cheered up. Get dressed," Richard said getting out of bed and pulling her along with him.

He went through his closet and tossed her some clothes, moments after he had turned his back the clothes were thrown back at him. Glancing at her over his shoulder curiously, she gestured to her body and the clothes she had on.

"No, that won't do." Richard said with a shake of his head as he walked over to her. Grabbing the bottom of his shirt that she was wearing, he pulled it up and over her head. "Why can't I wear your shirt?"

He chuckled softly as she pulled on the fitted t-shirt he gave her. "I told you, I'm selfish. I don't want anyone else seeing that cute little belly of yours."

She blushed lightly and placed a hand over one of her own cheeks.

Handing her a pair of black leggings, he smirked. "Do I need to help you with your pants too?"

Her breath caught in the throat, before she took the pants and turned her back to him with a shake of her head.

Richard brought her up to the lounge, which was huge and could easily fit everyone in the building and still have it not be overly crowded. "Now will you tell me why we're up here?" The lounge was full of people at the moment.

"I want you to show off." While they had been laying in bed Richard had realized that if Rachel really didn't want to tell anyone that she had been raped, then Roy would need to have a reason to stay away from her, and most likely wasn't going to believe it until he had proof. And Richard was going to do whatever it took for Roy to realize that Rachel could handle herself, and had people ready to defend her when she got in over her head, like she did every so often.

"Richie, I haven't performed for people in over four years…" She trailed off, looking around the room full of people.

"Start easy. You can do this." When he saw her glance nervously around the room again, he continued. "Show me Rach. Just show me, like in the gym the other night. Just you and me baby."


	13. Showing Off Not Again

On Her Own

Chapter 13

Taking a deep breath, Rachel glanced at Richard and leaned into a slow, perfect roundoff. Pushing immediately into a back handspring step out. Hands in the air, she sat into the hip of her back foot.

That had felt good.

Reaching for the floor, she kicked into a front walkover. Finishing with her hands once again in the air, she stepped together and pushed into two more back handsprings and stepped out of it.

Some people were gathering around her, but Richard was still right there. He gave her a nod of encouragement. This is exactly what he had wanted. He beamed at her.

She stepped it up a notch, and threw herself into a side aerial.

More people gathered around as she continued, and it wasn't long before the whole room was watching her.

Giving herself a two step lead, she punched into a front tuck. Landing it flawlessly, sitting on the floor with one leg bent and the other stretched out in front of her. Next she started a valdez, stopping in her handstand. Letting her legs fall open into a full split, she bent her back leg so her foot was touching her head. Balancing there.

Everyone began clapping as she walked around like that on her hands. Kicking down, with her hands once again in the air, she noticed Roy. He was standing in the front of the crowd, not too far from where Richard was.

Her and Roy locked gazes momentarily. She knew some of the crowd noticed, Rachel could already hear girls whispering behind her about it. Swallowing hard, she turned her back to the open space. Not even thinking twice about what she was going to do, Rachel threw herself into a back handspring, rebounding into a back tuck followed by a back layout. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she threw her chin and hands up for the final time, she turned towards her boyfriend.

Everyone was clapping except for Richard who was grinning at her like an idiot. Walking up to her in the middle of the circle, he grabbed her hips and picked her up, swinging her in a circle before putting her down. He saw Roys eyes widen, grinning he leaned down and pulled her in for a kiss. The crowd grew silent, watching and waiting. Her hands rested against his chest as he pulled her body tighter against his own, wrapping his arms securely and possessively around her waist.

She pulled back from their kiss, breathing heavy. "You are _amazing_!" He whispered in her ear.

"Wow, Rachel. Why didn't you ever tell me you were this talented? Babe, that was incredible!" Roy said as he walked towards the pair.

Rachel tensed and laid her forehead on his chest, squeezing her eyes closed. She felt Richard take a deep breath against her. "Roy, don't even come any closer." He knew the crowd was probably thinking there would be a fight. But he wasn't going to sink that low. Not here, not with Rachel there to watch it.

"Awe Richard, don't tell me you're jealous?" Roy was smirking, he wanted a fight.

"Shut up Roy. Just shut the fuck up." Rachel said pulling away from Richard. She walked up to Roy, not seeing Richard grin at her, and slapped the monster across the face before walking out.

Richard walked out after her, expecting to have to run to catch up with her but to his surprise she was sitting on the top of the stairs. He took a seat next to her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

She was trembling. "Whats up? You cold?"

She shook her head. "I scared myself. I wasn't planning on doing that back layout, not to mention how high I was."

Leaning over, he kissed her temple, his lips lingering an extra few moments. "You are beyond amazing! I don't know how you manage to do half of those stunts. Not to mention, the courage it took to slap Roy like that in front of everyone."

They spent the rest of the oh too short weekend watching movies with Victor in the guys room, waiting for the snow to finally stop. Toni had disappeared for the time being, but Rachel wasn't worried. The girl was pretty much glued to her boyfriend on the weekends and would occasionally go with him to visit his family when he went home.

Monday morning came and Rachel found herself in her seat next to Roy in English working on her final exam. As soon as she finished her exam she sprang out of her chair, more than ready to get away from Roy who had been giving her looks since she walked through the door.

Walking towards her dorm, Rachel tried to call her parents again. She still hadn't gotten ahold of them and didn't know what the plan was for winter break or the holidays. She walked into her room halfway through replying to a text, and gently kicked the door shut behind her.

She jumped slightly when it slammed shut, spinning around.

"Oh I'm sorry Rachel, did I scare you?" Roy asked sarcastically. He had a twisted smile on his face that disturbed Rachel to her core.

She glared at him, sending her text message. "What are you doing in here?" She threw her backpack to the floor by the foot of her bed.

"Haven't you figured that out yet, my dear?" He started slowly moving towards her. "I want you."

"Get out of my room!"

She stepped back.

Too late. He grabbed the front of her shirt and pulled her against him. Pushing her down, Roy pinned her to the floor with her hands above her head. He had both her hands in one of his as his free hand roamed under her shirt. "Stop!"

No, she couldn't let him hurt her again.

"You came here for a visit at the end of April last year," Roy began as he started pushing her shirt up, stopping when it was bunched up by the top of her ribcage.

"What does that have to do with this? I didn't even know you back then!" Rachel was trying to keep the fear from leaking out of her voice.

Releasing her hands, he ripped the front of her shirt open and continued, "Your buddy for the weekend brought you to a party." He leaned down and nuzzled her neck, placing a kiss on her collar bone.

"You weren't into it though and were out on the back deck alone. Grayson got to you first-" His voice was venom filled. She fought against his hold, wanting to get out from under him.

She remembered the party, she hadn't wanted to go, but her buddy said it was part of the college experience. She wound up spending most of the night on the back deck alone until Richard had joined her.

Roy slapped her cheek. "You're not listening!" His voice had gone past dangerous.

He ripped open the front of her bra. "Pay attention! If I had gotten to you first, you'd be mine right now." He growled as he grabbed her wrists again and pulled her pants down.

"Stop! Roy stop!" Rachel struggled, trying to get out from underneath him. "Stop!"

"Shut up!" He growled and slapped her again. He pulled his shirt over his head and straddled Rachels hips. She tried to kick, but it didn't make a difference.

She opened her mouth to scream, but he put his mouth over hers and kissed her, shoving his tongue in her mouth. She tried again to get her hands free. Tears began rolling down her cheeks.

Roys free hand traveled down her side to her hip, caressing the sensitive skin for a moment before he pulled her underwear down her legs.

She bit his lip till it bled.

He pulled back and raised an eyebrow at her, putting a finger to his bleeding lip. "Like it rough, eh?" She started struggling again and he punched her in the stomach, letting go of her long enough to get rid of his jeans and boxers.

"Stop! No, Roy get off!" Someone banged on the door.

Roy froze over her. "Shut up and stay quiet." She tried to quiet her ragged breathing.

"Rachel? You in there?" It was Victor. "Rachel?"

He banged on the door again. "Rachel what's going on in there?

"Tell him you're fine." Roy hissed near her ear. "Do it!"

"I-I'm fine, Victor." There was a slight tremor to her voice and Roy slapped her across the face again for it.

"Rachel, let me in." Her breath hitched in her throat as she choked back a sob.

Roy waited a few minutes for everything to get quiet again.

"You're mine Babe. Pathetic little Richie can't drag you away this time. And dumb Victor can't save you again." And with that, he shoved himself deep inside her.

She screamed.

The banging began again along with Victor yelling for Rachel open up the door.

Roy covered her mouth with his to muffle the sound as he pounded into her.

A few minutes later, a lock clicked and the door to Rachels door swung open.

Victor stormed into the room, shocked at the sight. Growling, he pushed Roy away from Rachel and proceeded to beat him senseless.

Rachel lay on the floor curled in a ball, sobbing silently. She jerked when a blanket was draped across her.

She opened her eyes to see Victor talking on his cell quietly, they locked eyes for a second before he looked away.

A few minutes later Victor came and kneeled down about a foot away from her. "That was Richard, he's gonna come by. All right?"

She nodded, curling up into a tighter ball.

Closing her eyes she let out a shaky breath, the pain.

It was back. It hurt so much, and she just wanted it all to stop.

This was worse than she remembered it being.

Twenty minutes later there was a knock at the door. Rachel jumped from her place on the floor.

"It's all right Rachel. It's just Richard." Victor said, getting up from where he had been sitting near her. He hadn't pushed her to say anything or tried to get too close and she was grateful for that. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath trying to push the pain out of her mind.

Victor opened the door, and immediately moved aside for Richard.

"Rachel? Rach, are you all right?" Richard crouched down on one knee, and ran a hand through her hair. She tensed under his hand and he gave her a small sad smile.

"Victor, what happened?" Richard asked, standing up and pacing.

"It was Roy, by the time I had picked the lock on the door…well, he had already _hurt _her. I gave him a good beating and literally threw him out the door."

Richard sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Frustrated. Bending back down, he picked up Rachel and the blanket. She tensed against him and whimpered, wanting to get away. She didn't want to be hurt again.

Not again.

It hurt so much, she just wanted it to stop.

She just wanted it all to stop.

"Shhhh. It's me Rach. I'm not gonna hurt you. I won't hurt you." He whispered. Richard took a seat on Rachels bed and moved so his back was against the wall. He laid her across his lap and wrapped his arms around her protectively.

"You might wanna take her shirt off?" Victor suggested. He had noticed what Roy had done to her clothes.

When Richard just looked at him questioningly Victor continued, "From the look of it he didn't actually take her shirt off all the way." Victor shrugged, taking a seat on Tonis bed.

Richard adjusted his hold and realized that he could feel the frayed edge of her shirt. He just wasn't entirely sure how to get it off her at the moment. He doubted removing it with Victor around was a good idea. "Rachel…"

She had her face buried in his chest, his shirt fisted in her hand.

He brushed some hair off her face and leaned down to place a soft kiss to her temple.

She shied away from him, releasing his shirt to put her hand up and push him away.

"What are you doing over winter break?" Richard asked looking up at Victor, deciding to just let her be for the moment.

"I'm planning on going-" He was cut off by Toni showing up.

She looked up from her phone, startled to see the three of them in the room. "Oh hey Richard, Rachel. And I don't think we've met?" She walked towards them and threw her backpack and sweatshirt by the foot of her bed.

"I'm Victor, his roommate. And I'm assuming you're Rachels roommate?" She nodded.

"Toni." She turned her back to the boys and dug through her closet. "So what's up with Rachel?"


	14. Confessions

On Her Own

Chapter 14

Victor looked between Richard and Toni, realizing that he probably wasn't the best person to speak up.

Richard took a deep breath before looking over at Tonis back. "Roy decided to pay Rachel another visit."

She looked over at them, she was a bit paler then she had been moments before.

"Oh."

"I think I'm going to go back to my room and finish packing. I'm leaving after my last exam tomorrow." Victor broke the awkward tension that coated the room as soon as Roy was mentioned.

"You coming back up tonight?" Victor asked as he grabbed his discarded sweatshirt and made his way to the door.

Richard glanced down at his girlfriend for a second before shrugging. "Dunno, maybe." Victor nodded and left.

"Are you packed?" He asked Toni.

"Yeah. My dad is getting me in the morning. You?"

"Mostly. But I know for a fact that Rachel hasn't packed a thing yet." Toni nodded, she knew that Rachel had been especially clingy since Roy got her the first time.

Changing her shirt, Toni threw her sweatshirt back on and walked out without saying another word.

Richard glanced down at Rachel. "Rachel, baby are you awake?" He trailed a finger across her cheek and she opened her eyes. He gave her a small smile.

She tensed and buried her face in his sweatshirt again.

He laid her down on the mattress and climbed off the bed. Digging through her closet revealed one of his sweatshirts. "Can you sit up for me?" He asked taking a seat on the edge of the bed.

In response she sat up slowly and inched away from him till her back was against the headboard.

Richard reached for the blanket but she held tight to it, shaking her head frantically.

"Rachel, it's alright. I just want to help you out of your shirt," He watched the color drain from her face.

"Do you want to put on my hoodie and take your ripped shirt off youself?" He offered, holding out the sweatshirt. She nodded slightly.

Richard moved closer and gave her the sweatshirt. She let the blanket fall to her lap, revealing her ripped clothing. Reaching forward, he ran his thumb over a section of her collarbone. Rachel brought a hand up to where his was and traced the spot.

Roy had given her a hickey.

Richard swore under his breath.

"I'm sorry, please don't be mad…" Her voice was so quiet he almost hadn't heard her even though there was barely a foot between them.

"Ah Rach, it's not your fault." He looked up into her eyes for a moment before he leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. "It's all right. Put on the sweatshirt,"

His phone went off in his backpack.

Rachel watched him go and check the text message before she took her ruined clothing off and pulled the sweatshirt over her head. She loved that his sweatshirts smelled like him. It made her feel safe.

"What are you doing over break?" He looked up at her question.

He grinned to himself. "Eh, probably just hang out around the manor. What about you, have you gotten ahold of your parents?"

She shook her head. "As it stands I don't even have a ride home," He interrupted her.

"Brilliant, now I have the perfect excuse to bring you back to the manor with me." He said it as if he had only just come up with the idea.

"But…won't your, won't he…shouldn't you ask before you bring some random girl home with you?" Richard watched her fumble over her words and chuckled softly at her.

"It's all right Rach, you can say his name, or you can call him my father." Rachel knew that things between Richard and his guardian were tense, he had told her often enough about how they rarely got along.

She nodded, getting off her bed and walked over to her closet. Pulling a duffle bag out, she started taking clothes out of her closet and began her packing. There was hope now, she had a way to leave.

"And you're not exactly some random girl. We've been together since the beginning of the semester." He added, tapping the tip of her nose before helping her empty her closet of clothes.

"But still, shouldn't you check with Bruce?" She asked, folding one of her leotards.

"Don't even worry about that." He watched her kneel down and grab the pile of clothes off the floor, shaking his head at her.

Once they had finished, the couple found themselves upstairs in Richards room. Rachel was sitting on Richards bed, with her knees pulled to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. Richard was in the shower, and she wanted to get this over with before he got back.

"Victor?" He was sitting at his desk with his laptop.

"Yeah Rachel?" He hadn't even looked up from what he was doing.

She took a deep breath, if she started this she knew there would be no turning back. "Can I talk to you about something? It's kinda important."

Looking over at her he closed the lid of his computer and gave her his undivided attention. "What's on your mind?"

"Roy said something to me earlier, and…I don't really know what to make of it…" She trailed off, beginning to wonder if this was such a good idea.

"Why don't you tell me what he said and we can go from there?" Victor offered, he could tell she was uncomfortable with the situation.

She looked at the blanket beneath her mumbling, "Dumb Victor can't save you again." She wasn't sure if Roy had only said it because he could or if there was some deeper meaning to it, but she hoped Victor could help her.

"Rachel," He watched her for a moment before continuing, "Do you know what he meant by that?" He knew that it was time she knew the truth.

She shook her head and continued to pick at the small hole she had found in Richards comforter.

"I saved you from Roy, that night after the party." She looked up at him, shock clearly written across her face.

"You…but you never said, why didn't you ever say anything? You didn't tell Richard…"

He put a hand up for her to slow down and take a breath. "I didn't tell Richard because at the time I hadn't realized who you were. I'd only briefly seen you together in passing or when you guys would drop stuff off in here before leaving again. I hadn't made the connection that you were his girlfriend-"

"But you didn't say anything the other day either." She had cut him off. "You had the perfect chance to say something when I told you the other day that he had finally managed to _rape_ me." Her voice cracked on the word rape. In a quick lapse in control, she threw a pillow at Victor who caught it with ease as the door opened.

Rachel rolled onto her stomach, propped up on her elbows and quickly picked up the book she had been reading before Richard had left to shower.

Opening her book to a random page, she tried to quell the anger and distrust that were brewing.

"What are you two doing, having a pillow fight?" Richard asked with amusement in his voice and eyes.

"Something like that," Victor said tossing the pillow at Richard as he passed.

Richard knelt on his bed next to Rachel and started massaging her shoulders. "So tense Rach, relax." His breath tickled her skin as he whispered in her ear.

She couldn't make her body relax, she felt like screaming. She looked away from her page and closed the book. His hands stilled on her shoulders. "Rachel, baby is there anything you wanna talk about?"

Pushing against the bed, she sat up and glanced around the room. The isle that ran from the door to the far wall between the two beds was clear.

Getting up, she threw herself into a handstand and started walking laps on her hands.

The guys watched her as she completed her fifth lap of the room, pivoting whenever she ran out of room.

"Ummmm…" Victor didn't know what to say to her decision to begin pacing, on her hands.

"Do you want to go to the gym for a bit Rach?" Richard offered, still amazed at how strong she was.

She let her feet fall to the floor landing in her backbend before kicking over with perfect form to stand on her feet.

"No, its fine. _I'm _fine. Just…just anxious about leaving. I guess." She waited a moment to see if he was going to respond before kicking back into her handstand.

Richard got off his bed and grabbed Rachel by her upside down hips and lifted her off the floor, tossing her over his shoulder. "Thats more than enough, if you keep at it much longer you'll put a hole in my floor." He added with a chuckle.

Leaning forward he tossed her lightly onto his bed. He laid next to her as she grabbed her book and tried to find her page. Hoping to settle her mind.

A few hours later Victor announced that he was going out for a bit. Rachel sat up on one arm as she watched him leave, she still had so many questions about why he had kept quiet all this time.

With an unheard sigh she laid back down, book still in hand. After rereading the same line for the tenth time she finally gave in and closed her book. Unable to concentrate on what she was reading.

Rolling onto her side Rachel curled into her boyfriend who was laying on his back, reading like she had been.

She nuzzled her nose into his shirt, unsure what her goal was at the moment. Deciding to let him be, she just laid there, tracing small patterns on the edge of his stomach and along his side.

Richard smiled, letting her do as she pleased for the moment. When he finished the chapter a few minutes later he put the book down and glanced at her.

"You're going to burn holes in my shirt if you keep staring at it like that." He warned lightly. Turning onto his side he propped himself up on one arm and wrapped the other one around her.

Laying her head on his pillow she shrugged, one hand creeping up under his shirt.

Knowing what she wanted he placed a soft kiss on her forehead and sat up enough to take his shirt off.

She closed her eyes and sighed softly as he pulled her closer.

"Is that better?" She nodded, still not opening her eyes. His thumb rubbed soft circles on her cheek.

Leaning down he pressed a soft kiss against her neck, then on her cheek, her nose, and finally on her lips.

"Richard…"

She didn't know what to say, but he was patient and waited for her to talk when she was ready.

"Thank you for not leaving me, after everything that Roy did. You were there for me when I thought I was all alone."

Sitting up all the way Richard brought his hands up to his neck, slowly undoing the clasp. He looked at her over his shoulder, "Come here,"

Rachel sat up and moved forward a bit so she was sitting next to him. Lowering the chain in front of her, he brought it around her neck and clasped it.

"You are never alone Rachel. This once belonged to someone very special to me and was given to me when I needed it most." She turned to look at him, she had asked about the necklace when they had first gotten together but he wouldn't give her a straight answer back then. And she hadn't asked since.

"You don't have to do this Richie." She put a hand on his chest, the other fingering the warm metal around her neck.

"You're special to me baby, I care about you and want you to realize that no matter what happens you are not alone!"

**Please review, they keep me going and encourage me to update!**


	15. Trying

On Her Own

Chapter 15

They were both quiet for a few minutes, lost in their own thoughts.

"Whose was it?"

It really shouldn't have, but the question surprised him.

Rachel wasn't sure if he'd get angry or would even answer, but she couldn't keep from asking.

He reached forward and pulled her back to lay on his chest while he leaned on the headboard. Other than Bruce no one knew the story, or why he hadn't taken that simple, silver chain off since the day it was given to him. And he though it was time that Rachel was allowed to know another one of his secrets.

"My mother gave this to my father a long time ago, it was an anniversary gift. He never took it off. When they died, Bruce took me in and other than a single picture and some clothes I wasn't allowed to bring anything with me. Bruce was good friends with the commissioner. A few days later Commissioner Gordan showed up, he'd pulled some strings so I could have this back."

She sat up and her hands immediately went to her neck, working the clasp. "I can't take this from you, it's-"

His hands stopped her own as he kissed her, gently shushing her. "Rachel," He murmured against her lips.

She pulled away from him, once again trying to take the necklace off. "No, it was your parents. I-I-" He could see a slight panic in her eyes.

He put a finger against her lips, silencing her again. "No, Rachel." He kept his voice quiet as he continued, "You aren't _taking_ it from me. I'm _giving_ it to you."

He moved his hands to cup her face, giving her a small smile. "I want you to have it."

She put a hand over his as she nuzzled her cheek against his palm. He moved his hands to her waist pulling her to lay back against his chest again. She couldn't help playing with the chain around her neck.

"Richie?" His thumbs were rubbing soothing circles on the backs of her hands.

She reached up and placed a kiss on his jaw. "I love you." He looked down at her and placed a kiss on the top of her head. "I know, and I love you too."

Making herself comfortable, Rachel let out a soft yawn. Curling up in his arms, she closed her eyes and let herself drift off to sleep while Richard texted someone on his phone.

Barely an hour later Richard had laid down on his pillows with Rachel still in his arms and just as he was getting comfortable someone decided to knock on his door.

"Really?" He huffed softly, shifting Rachels head off his chest and onto a pillow. The knocking came again as Richard pulled the blankets up around her shoulders.

He growled softly as he made his was to the door. Opening it up he found his roommate on the other side. "Uh, ever thought of using your key?" Victor looked distraught, almost wasted and that disturbed Richard. He'd never seen Victor drunk before.

Richard watched his friend shuffle over to his computer chair and collapse into it, turning the light on as he did and put head in his hands. "Vic, what's up?" He asked as he instantly turned the light off again, looking to see if it had woken Rachel.

"I told the dean." Looking up he nodded over at Rachel. "About her."

Victor held up a hand to stop Richard before he could even start. "I should have put a stop to this before it ever really started. If I had said something to you or to the dean sooner then maybe Roy wouldn't have been able to rape her."

"Stop, stop, stop." Richard glanced at Rachel who was tossing, murmuring softly in her sleep. "What do you mean you should have put a stop to it before it started?"

Victor sighed, he should have known Rachel wouldn't have said anything to him about it. "I stopped Roy that first time, after the halloween party."

Victor watched Richard take a deep controlled breath. "I'm going to ignore that for now and go to go to bed, before I do something that I'll regret in the morning."

The sentence had barely left his mouth when Rachel sat bolt upright in bed yelling, "Roy!"

Richard moved and sat on the edge of the bed, grabbing her hands. "Rachel. It's all right Rachel." He whispered as he moved closer and wrapped his arms around her. "It was just a dream, you're here with me. You're safe."

He could feel Victor watching him. He felt like beating his friend to a pulp at the moment but pushed his anger at his roommate aside.

"You're safe." He repeated quietly. Nudging her to lay down he leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

Getting off the bed he pulled the blankets up from where they had been kicked to the foot of the bed. Victor came up behind him and whispered, "If we can get her to talk to the dean in the morning then the police can get involved before Roy leaves." With that being said Victor went and got into his bed.

Richard sighed and climbed into bed, wrapping an arm around Rachel.

"Roy, he…" Her voice was barely a whisper. He silenced her with a soft kiss.

"You're safe Rach." It would all be over soon, he was going to make sure of it.

She curled up against him, heart pounding and tried to breath evenly. He watched her eyes close slowly, and he knew this had to end. Whether Rachel like it or not they would be paying a visit to the dean first thing in the morning and telling him everything. She was a survivor, he knew how strong she was emotionally and physically. This was the one thing he wasn't sure she could make it out of on her own though.

Morning came all too quickly for Richards liking. When he looked over at Rachel she was laying on her back, staring at the ceiling. He glanced at his alarm clock before looking back over at his girlfriend. "This is a change, I usually have to wake you up."

Getting up he began getting dressed for the day, throwing his pajamas in his duffle bag. He looked over at Rachel who was just sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at Victor who was still out cold. "When is he leaving?" Blinking she looked over at him.

Pulling his shirt over his head Richard replied, "Later today, he has some stuff he needs to turn in I think. Come get dressed,"

He heard her sigh as she slid off the bed and started pulling on clean clothes. As soon as she was dressed Richard grabbed her hand and led her out of his room.

He led her across campus, constantly watching her. He'd never say it but she looked like crap, he assumed she didn't end up falling asleep again. Letting go of her hand he instead wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her closer.

Rachel had a feeling she knew where he was taking her. She had known for a while now that it would only be a matter of time. And she was proven right when they walked up to one of the main buildings.

She sighed, knowing that she had to tell the dean. "I really don't know about this,"

He stopped and looked back at her. "You can do this, and I'll be right there with you."

She sighed and began walking again.

They pushed through the double doors together, only for Rachel to slow her paced once she saw the secretaries desk. Richard gave her a last quick squeeze before moving to speak with the secretary. She watched him for a moment before going and sitting in one of the available chairs along the wall.

Sitting down she put her head in her hands. Sitting was the last thing she wanted to do, but she couldn't exactly start pacing on her hands like she did in Richards room. Instead she put her head in her hands and _tried_ not think about why she was there.

Richard came and sat next to her, placing a comforting hand on her knee. She looked up at the touch.

"Want to go to the gym after this for a bit?" He offered, knowing how uncomfortable she must be feeling at the moment. He figured the gym would give her something to look forward to and hopefully encourage her to talk.

It was then that the dean stepped out of his office. "Ah, Rachel, why don't you come in and the two of us will have a little chat."

Rachel looked up when he spoke. She's seen the dean in passing but had never had an actual conversation with the man. He was a tall, fit, middle aged man. He seemed nice enough as he stepped out of the doorway, gesturing for her to enter the office. That still didn't make her want to talk to him about this though.

Slowly she got to her feet and walked towards the dean.

Richard stood as well and took a few steps behind her.

"Why don't you wait out here Richard, it's probably for the best." Rachel had just stepped through the doorway when she heard this. Looking over her shoulder at her boyfriend, she had been planning on having him with her for moral support. Taking deep breath she put on a smile to show him she would be fine.

"I'll be right out here if you need me, all right Rach?" He said as he closed the distance between them, leaning down and placing a soft kiss on the top of her head before going and taking a seat once again.

Swallowing hard she moved further into the office followed by the dean as he pulled the door shut behind him.

He moved swiftly passed her and took a seat behind his desk, motioning for her to sit as well. Hesitantly, Rachel took a seat across from him, her fingers nervously tugging on her necklace.

"Have you taken the last of your exams yet?" He asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Yes, my last one was yesterday." She wouldn't look up from her lap, one of her hands still playing with the chain.

"Do you think you did well?" She shrugged, just wishing he would ask what he wanted to ask so she could leave. She heard him sigh.

"Would you like to tell me something, Rachel?"

Again she shrugged, not trying to be difficult. She just wasn't use to telling people about her problems, she'd always handled everything on her own. That is, until Richard entered the picture.

She turned around in her chair and looked at the door to the office. She knew he was just on the other side of the door, but she wished he was in here with her.

She didn't know how to explain what had happened between her and Roy. She could barely explain it to her boyfriend, let alone the dean who she'd never even spoken too before.

"Rachel, Rachel?" She looked back to the dean, he was leaning over his desk looking at her concerned.

"Are you all right? You look a little on the pale side."

She blinked and nodded her head.

She had always been alone, she couldn't just tell this complete stranger that Roy had cornered her in her room and raped her. Twice.

"Do you want to take a minute?" It wasn't until then that she felt the tear falling against her cheek.

Pushing on the armrests she stood up slowly, and turned to the door. She opened it to find Richard standing in front of a window talking to someone on his phone. Walking up to him she wrapped her arms around him from behind.

"I gotta go, I'll text you later." Hanging up his phone he turned around and slid it in his pocket before wrapping his arms around her.

"I couldn't do it…" She whispered resting her forehead against his chest.


	16. It's Over

On Her Own

Chapter 16

Richard knew this was going to happen. She'd had a hard time telling him about what had happened, he hadn't expected her to have an easy time talking about it with the dean.

"Rach, look at me." She did as he asked.

"You are probably one of the strongest people I know. You can do this." He paused looking at her before adding, "Lets go." And with that he wrapped an arm around her waist and walked with her back into the deans office.

The dean looked up as the two of them walked in. "Mr. Grayson, I believe I asked you to wait out there."

Rachel sat in her chair from before, tugging on the silver chain while Richard stood behind it. "We tried that. Now we're trying it this way." He leaned down and put a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it lightly.

For a while they were all silent, Richard and the dean looking at each other while Rachel stared blankly out the window where it was snowing again. After a few minutes of this the dean finally broke the silence.

"Rachel, we both know why you're here. A friend of yours came to me and told me an interesting tale. Would you like to tell me about your relationship with Roy Harper?"

It took a moment for that to sink in for Rachel. When she realized what had been said she turned in her chair and looked despairingly at Richard for a moment before getting up and walking to the window.

"Roy was my friend once, or I had thought he was…he followed me out of a halloween party one night. He was drunk, he pushed me into the side of a truck and ripped the skirt and tights I had on. Someone came and stopped him, I don't know who, I couldn't see a face." She paused and took a deep breath before continuing with how she had thought that it would be over once he had sobered up. She went on with how he cornered her in her room a few weeks later, how he ripped her clothes, and forced himself on her. Finally she finished with, "…and yesterday he trapped me in my room and did it all again." With that she turned and walked out of the office. Silent tears were falling down her cheeks.

"Mr. Harper won't be returning next semester, the college has a no tolerance policy. Does anyone else know about this?" The dean asked Richard.

"Rachels roommate, Toni and my own roommate, Victor." The dean nodded as Richard turned to follow his girlfriend.

By the time Richard had caught up with Rachel she had already left the building and was on the path leading to their dorm rooms.

Walking next to her Richard reached for her hand only for her to yank it away. "Rachel?"

She sped up a bit more, not wanting to talk to him at the moment. But he simply lengthened his stride and easily caught up, moving in front of her. "Hey, what's wrong?"

She looked up at him, her eyes red. "How could you?" Her voice was strained, trying to keep it from cracking.

"Rach-"

"How could you go and tell him that about me?" Rachel stepped back when he reached out to her. She used a fist to wipe away the traitorous tears that had fallen. "How could you Richie!"

He slowly reached out and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Rachel, I didn't tell anyone. Victor told the dean. He came back to the room late last night looking wasted and told me that he saved you after that party and that he finally went to the dean, telling him the whole story."

Rachel looked down at the ground, the still falling snow making her hair darker. "I know he saved me…Roy told me…"

Richard wrapped his arms around her, resting his head on top of hers. "It's alright baby, you never have to see him again." He pulled her a little closer to him, he could feel her clutching at his shirt. "It's over, forever."

Two hour later Rachel was flipping across the spring floor while Richard leaned along the wall with two bags of their clothes, talking on the phone.

Rachel walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her cheek to his chest. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders squeezing lightly, listening to whoever was on the other end of the phone call. Letting go, she grabbed her water bottle and took a long drink.

"Yeah, she'll be fine. She's strong. She's been flipping across the spring floor for over an hour now." She could hear pride in his voice and she smiled mentally. He put a hand over the receiver and asked, "Feeling better now baby?" Nodding she kissed his cheek before going back over to the floor.

When he hung up his phone twenty minutes later, he looked up to see his girlfriend walking along the perimeter of the mats on her hands. "Rachel?"

She stopped where she was for a moment before changing direction and walking towards him. When she was only about two feet away from him she kicked down from her handstand. "You almost ready to go?"

She nodded and brushed some stray hair behind her ears. "Can I shower before we go? Do I have time?" Richard nodded, they had just under an hour till their ride got there.

When Rachel stepped out of the shower she was shocked to see Richard leaning against the wall, smirking. "So this is what the girls changing room looks like."

He smirked as she hit him on the side of the head as she walked by. "Would you like something to put on?" She stopped and turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. Richard pulled a folded outfit from being his back and pressed a kiss to her forehead when he handed her the clothes.

With a small smile she left him in the middle of the hall and walked off to get dressed. As she pulled on the black skinny jeans and loose tank top she thanked the heavens that her boyfriend had a good fashion sense.

Once again dressed, she found him back in the gym, walking on the low balance beam.

He hadn't realized she was standing behind him till she burst out laughing when he lost his balance and jumped safely to the floor a foot below him. "What are you doing?" She asked walking over towards the beam.

He shrugged. "It's harder to stay on one of these things than it looks. You try it," He stepped back so she could climb on with plenty of space.

Walking past him, she patted him on the shoulder before climbing on the high beam and walking across effortlessly. "It doesn't seem that hard." She smirked down at him.

"Now that's just not fair," He whined lightly, causing her to laugh. Rachel motioned for him to climb up with her and he did just that, wobbling the entire time. Moving closer, she took his hands and helped him get his balance.

Once he was upright and she was pretty sure he wouldn't fall off, she stepped back and lunged into a handstand. He gaped at her, "How do you balance on this thing?"

Kicking down, she smiled at him. "I squeeze, here," She poked him lightly in the stomach. "and here," She pressed down gently on his shoulders. "and here." Crouching down, she trailed a finger up and down his legs. She felt him shiver under her fingers. Stepping back, she gave him a shy smile.

Grinning he carefully closed the space between them, wrapping his arms around her. A second after she had been pressed against his chest, he started wobbling again and dragged them both off the beam and sent them crashing onto the crash mat below them.

They both landed on their sides in each others arms, laughing. Rachel inched closer, snuggling against his chest. "That was fun." She murmured into his chest.

Lifting her chin he kissed her softly. Pulling back he put their foreheads together briefly before kissing her again, slowly deepening it. He ran his hand absentmindedly through her hair before it settled on her lower back, pulling her closer. One of Rachels hands left his shoulders and crept up under his shirt, pulling away timidly when his phone started ringing in his back pocket. When he answered it she pulled away and sat up, nervously finger combing her hair.

Richard reached for her hand with one of his and squeezed it before tucking his phone back into his pocket. "Are you ready to go to the manor and meet Bruce?"

She nodded slowly getting to her feet. They went over to the wall and grabbed their bags before leaving the gym. Rachel stopped suddenly, seeing the limo that was idling in front of the colleges gymnasium. Richard left his bag by the door to the limo before walking back over to her. "I told him not to send the limo." He said simply like it was the most common thing in the world. She just stood there for a few minutes, looking between him and the black limousine where someone was getting out of the drivers side.

"Ah Master Richard, it is **so **good to see you again."

He laughed. "It's good to see you too Alfred." Richard glanced at the man standing by the door to the limo before taking Rachels duffle from her and wrapping his arm around her waist, slowly guiding her forward. "Alfred this is Rachel, the one I told you was coming home with me."

Alfred bowed slightly. "Hello Miss Rachel." She could do nothing but nod, still in shock that they were leaving in a _limo_.

Alfred reached for the bag Richard was holding but he simply moved it out of reach. "I can put this in the back, I'm a big boy Alfred." Alfred shook his head slightly and laughed a bit as he made his way back to the drivers seat. After tossing both their duffle bags in the back he climbed into the back seat beside Rachel.

Resting her head on his shoulder she felt him place a soft kiss on the top of her head and murmur, "Wayne Manor awaits."

**So, I think that's gonna be the end. I fell like this is a good place to end it, but if you want more review and tell me what you want to read!**


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